ESPN analysts slam Cowboys, Jerry Jones for failing to reach deals with stars

Dallas Cowboys training camp is underway in Oxnard, California, and despite months to reach a deal, the team still hasn’t signed No. 1 receiver CeeDee Lamb to a contract extension. As a consequence, Lamb is not reporting to camp, even though it means he’ll receive fines of $50,000 per day of practice missed.

Lamb isn’t the only player the Cowboys have left unsigned as 2024 training camp kicks off. Dak Prescott and Micah Parsons are also due for contract extensions but Jerry Jones and his front office have made little progress. Lamb is the priority, and his number, which is around $140 million, is known, so what’s the holdup? ESPN analysts ripped the Cowboys for their failure to sign their stars to new deals on Wednesday morning’s GetUp.

“I think that it raises questions about how Dallas is negotiating with these players,” Tim Hasselbeck said. “It makes you wonder. There is an absolute roadmap to what the top wide receiver should be paid. It’s a little puzzling. I think it’s fair to say that Jerry Jones is this great business man but how are they negotiating with these players.”

Kimberly A. Martin, a frequent critic of the Cowboys, slammed the team for “acting like they’re special.”

“The Cowboys act like they’re the only ones in this position,” Martin said. “Hi, welcome to being an NFL GM and Exec. If you draft well and you want to keep the core players, you have to pay all of them. This is not a problem that’s unique to Dallas. The Bills got criticized for paying Josh Allen when they did, but they were happy because the number was only going up.”

Stephen Jones: Cowboys ‘playing Houdini’

The contract expirations coming in such close succession makes the Cowboys’ job a bit more difficult, as Stephen Jones explained last week by comparing the team’s salaries to those of the Vikings. Unlike Minnesota, which recently signed Justin Jefferson to a mega-deal, Dallas already has numerous players in the top pay range for their position.

“We’re trying to play Houdini to keep all these guys around Dak and keep these players we were fortunate enough to draft,” Jones said. “When you start stocking them up like that, it’s a challenge. It’s not that it’s not doable but you certainly have to have some give and take.

“When the Vikings made the deal with Jefferson, you know they don’t have another player on the roster making over $20 million dollars… We have a big one in Dak, (Trevon) Diggs, Zack Martin, DLaw… No excuses. We think we can get this done, we know we can get it done but it just takes time.”