Entering the 2024 season, there is still far too much that remains unknown about the Cowboys receiver crew to be all that comfortable. CeeDee Lamb is a holdout, and in need of a new contract, an issue that loomed over the team’s training camp and preseason more than any other, even more than the Dak Prescott situation. Lamb has not practiced with the team at all since the 2023 season and playoffs ended.
Maybe the one known quantity is Brandin Cooks, the 31-year-old veteran who will slot in as the Cowboys’ No. 2. After that? It’s still an open competition.
Third-year man Jalen Tolbert, who showed some flashes in 2023, appears to have the inside track on the role of No. 3 in the Cowboys offense. Normally, the Cowboys could get by without significant contributions from that spot, but given the fact that Lamb probably won’t be fully in shape and at max production until we get to Week 3 or 4—no matter how it is glossed over, camp holdouts almost always start slow—the No. 3 role could be of added importance.
And rather than leave it to a wild card like Tolbert, ESPN has a suggestion: The Cowboys should go and get veteran Allen Lazard of the Jets.
Allen Lazard Played for Mike McCarthy, Briefly
That’s the thought from longtime insider Bill Barnwell, who wrote in an article titled, “NFL trade candidates: Players who could change teams before deadline,” that Lazard would make sense as a Cowboys target in the coming weeks, citing the brief time he spent with the Packers when Mike McCarthy was coach as one reason.
He noted:
“Lazard originally joined the Packers during Mike McCarthy’s final year with the franchise in 2018, so while there wasn’t much crossover between the two, there’s at least some level of familiarity. The Cowboys also need depth at wide receiver after cutting Michael Gallup; their top two starters are in the midst of a holdout (CeeDee Lamb) and battling a sore knee (Brandin Cooks).
“Acknowledging that the Jets would again be eating a significant portion of the deal, a fresh start for Lazard would make sense for both sides.”
Cowboys Hoping for Jalen Tolbert Breakout
Indeed, getting the Jets to eat some of the contract would be a key, and it is likely they would do so. They’d almost have to, because Lazard, signed under the friends-of-Aaron Rodgers program the Jets instituted last year, was mostly useless in New York. Lazard is only 28, but did not mesh with the Jets offense once Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles tendon in Week 1.
Lazard had just 23 catches in 14 games, for 311 total yards with the Jets, his worst production since he played just one game with the Packers in that 2018 season.
He is only 28, so Lazard should have plenty left in the tank. He is in the second year of a four-year, $44 million contract, but there is an out after this season. Barnwell points out that Lazard’s cap hit for this year is $10 million, so if the Jets ate a big part of that, the Cowboys could fit him into their limited budget.
Ideally, of course, the Cowboys will get Lamb signed and have Tolbert well on his way to a breakout year after the first couple of weeks. If that does not happen, though, Lazard will likely be an option.
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