Dallas City News

Tuesday is an important day for the Dallas Cowboys. They are California-bound… most of them.

It was reported on Tuesday morning by The Dallas Morning News that Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb will not be a part of the team charter to Oxnard. Apparently Prescott is already in the area, but Lamb has been in the middle of contract negotiations (so has Prescott to be clear) with the team all offseason. Most of BTB didn’t think he would show up and here we are.

The Cowboys charter for Southern California will leave Tuesday. The team will bus from there to Oxnard and are scheduled to arrive at their training site later in the afternoon.

Prescott won’t be on the flight. He’s been in the area working out ahead of the team’s arrival.

Lamb will also be missing from the flight. Club officials don’t anticipate he’ll join the team until an extension is reached.

It’s difficult to put a timetable on when the impasse will be resolved. Lamb wasn’t part of the Cowboys offseason program. The receiver’s absence, along with a bleeding of veteran talent in free agency, fed into the frustration and anger that seemed to fester in the Cowboys fan base after a stunning playoff defeat to Green Bay.

Please also file this in the “not at all shocking” folder, but it is specifically noted that Lamb will not show up until a deal is in place. According to the DMN’s discussion with team officials, at least.

As far as when all of this could potentially be resolved we have obviously had this discussion many times. Today is literally the day that the team is heading out to training camp. It isn’t a deadline by any stretch, but it is a significant day with months of opportunity in its rearview mirror. We are well past the point where this made logical sense to do.

To be honest the Cowboys are fortunate that Lamb is the only one that is (seemingly) on the verge of holding out while the team is at training camp. If Dak Prescott and/or Micah Parsons wanted to they could certainly push that envelope as well relative to their own contractual situations.

This will undeniably linger as a talking point until it isn’t one anymore and that would have been something that Jerry Jones would have addressed himself at the team’s annual opening press conference from camp; however, that was recently pushed back from Wednesday to Saturday. Mike McCarthy will have to field questions about it all by himself in the time in between.

Stories like this can quickly go away if resolutions are found as indicated by the Trevon Diggs’ extension last year. It was a breath of fresh air amid Zack Martin’s holdout at the time.

On the subject of Diggs it was reported on Monday that he will begin camp on the PUP list. The DMN report with the Lamb news also noted that team officials are hopeful that Mazi Smith and Luke Schoonmaker will avoid the list themselves.

While Diggs will open camp on the PUP list, club officials are optimistic that defensive tackle Mazi Smith (shoulder surgery) and tight end Luke Schoonmaker (hamstring) could be cleared to participate. Both will likely have their participation restricted when the team gets underway later this week.

Welcome to training camp.

Update: 1:00pm ET

According to Calvin Watkins of the DMN, the Cowboys have not had “substantial contract talks” with CeeDee at this time.

As you were.