Justin Jefferson signed a mammoth four-year deal worth $140 million and that means that all other wide receivers like CeeDee Lamb, who are chasing new contracts of their own, will get a boost.
While appearing on the Pat McAfee Show, NFL Insider Adam Schefter pointed out that Jerry Jones had previously said that the wide receiver was in no rush to get a new deal with the Cowboys even though they were ready as an organization.
And, according to Schefter, the reason for it was that Lamb was waiting for the wide receiver market to reset as it has now done with Jefferson's new contract. The NFL Insider commented:
"Jerry Jones made a reference earlier this offseason to the fact that the Cowboys wanted to get a deal done with Ceedee Lamb. But Ceedee Lamb was in no rush to get that deal done. And the reason that he wasn't in any rush to get a deal done was because of the deal today. Well, the deal today is now done."
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But Adam Schefter hastened to add that just because Lamb has similar numbers as Jefferson does not mean that both will get paid equally. Because the Vikings wide receiver played fewer games due to injuries and still accumulated the numbers that he did, he remains the benchmark. The NFL Insider added:
"And if you look at their numbers side by side, yes, Ceedee Lamb played more games due to Justin Jefferson's injuries. But the numbers are comparable. Do I think Lamb is as good as Justin Jefferson? No. Do I think he's gonna get that contract? No."
Adam Schefter concluded by saying that now Lamb and the Cowboys can get towards figuring out the correct contractual value for him in this market and how much lesser than Jefferson it will be:
"I think we'd all agree it would be south of Justin Jefferson. But how much south and that's the question, and that's now left up to Lamb and the Dallas Cowboys to go figure out."
Comparing Justin Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb's numbers from last season
Justin Jefferson played 10 games last season and accumulated 1,074 receiving yards. CeeDee Lamb had a total of 1,749 yards and featured in all 17 regular season games.
That equates to 107.4 yards per game for the Vikings player and he also has an average of 15.8 yards per catch. The Cowboys receiver comes in at 102.9 yards per game and has an average of 13 yards. With both averages being lower, the Dallas player's contract value is also accordingly expected to be lesser.
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