CeeDee An A++ WR
Rarely do players heaped with a mountain of expectations meet them, much less exceed them.
The Cowboys piled on the praise when they drafted wide receiver CeeDee Lamb with the 17th overall pick in the 2019 draft. Before he even suited up for his first practice he was anointed as the next great Cowboys receiver – handing him No. 88 and immediately inducting him into the 88 club that includes Hall of Famers Drew Pearson and Michael Irvin, as well as Dez Bryant.
And while the Cowboys will tell you they knew what they were getting in Lamb, I seriously doubt anybody at The Star expected a generational super star.
Well, now in his fourth season, the Cowboys have one of the very best to every lace up a pair of football cleats.
And certainly, one of the tops already in franchise history.
He put on a show Saturday night at AT&T Stadium, where he caught 13 of 15 passes for 227 yards – including a 92-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter, the longest touchdown play this season in the NFL. It was the best game of his career, not only with what he produced on the field against the Lions, but the fact that he set new franchise records in catches (122) and yards (1,651) in a season, and still has one regular season game to go on Sunday in Washington.
It is already the 18th best season in NFL history, just behind Indianapolis wide receiver Marvin Harrison’s 1,663 yards in 1999 and just in front of Cleveland wide receiver Josh Gordon’s 1,646 yards in 2013, with a chance to move into the top 8 with another triple-digit performance.
However, he had a lot to learn when he arrived in Dallas less than four season ago.
Luckily, the Cowboys already had a great receiver on the roster in Amari Cooper. Thought of as one of the best route runners in the league, Cooper went to work imparting all his knowledge onto Lamb, who had all the skills but just needed to master the nuances of the position – setting up defenders on the snap and running precise routes.
It worked.
This season, Lamb has put it all together.
He is currently at the top, or near the top, in more statistical categories than you can imagine.
When it comes to how to cover Lamb, it doesn’t matter if you play man or zone against him.
He is the top receiver in the NFL this season against man coverage with a 93.2 grade from Pro Football Focus. Going into Saturday night’s game, he had caught 36 of 50 targets in man coverage for 593 yards, with two drops and five touchdowns.
Lamb is the eighth best receiver against zone coverage, where he has a grade of 81.5 by PFF after catching 60 of 82 targets for 698 yards with two drops and three touchdowns.
With a grade of 99.9 by PFF, Lamb is currently tied for the best wide receiver in the NFL on intermediate routes – routes run at a depth of 10-19 yards, with San Francisco’s Brandon Aiyuk, catching 27 of 43 targets for 554 yards, five touchdowns and a 20.5 yards per catch average. He ranks eighth on short routes – routes run from 0-9 yards, where he caught 54 of 64 pass thrown his way, for 484 yards, 1 touchdown and a 9.0 yards per catch average. He is 10th on deep routes – all routes run longer than 20 yards, where he caught 14 of 27 targets for 332 yards with three touchdowns and a 23.7 yards per catch average.
He is sixth in drop rate, fifth in yards per route run and now tops in the NFL in yards, just passing Miami’s Tyreek Hill (1,451) by 10 yards, and receptions by 14 over the Los Angeles Chargers’ Keenan Allen (108).
In three seasons at Oklahoma, Lamb never led the NCAA in receiving – ranking 69th as a freshman (46 catches/807 yards/7 touchdowns), 18th as a sophomore (65/1,158/11) and sixth as a junior (62/1,327/14), his final college season.
He never led the NCAA in catches in a season or touchdowns in a season. In fact, Lamb only led the Sooners in the three major receiving categories during his final season in Norman.
Regardless, the Cowboys knew they were getting a good wide receiver when Lamb fell to them at No. 17 in that 2020 draft. Did they know then he was gonna be this good, this soon?
Probably not, but with the help of Cooper and the trust of his quarterback, Lamb is delivering like the he plans on being the next Hall of Famer to wear No. 88 for the Cowboys.