FRISCO, Texas -- Just days away from the Dallas Cowboys' Week 1 matchup at the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb sounded like Spongebob Squarepants on his way to work at the Krusty Krab.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Lamb said Thursday.
Lamb held out of the Cowboys' entire offseason program as a negotiating tactic that led to him signing a four-year, $136 million contract extension. As a result, the 25-year-old 2023 first-team All-Pro is still getting his body reacquainted with the rhythms of contact football after training on his own in the spring and the summer. Dallas' first padded practice of the 2024 regular season on Thursday served a key checkpoint for Lamb's re-acclimation to football.
"Today was definitely one of those days," Lamb said. "Again, shout out the guys and coaches for really guiding me throughout this whole week. Obviously, I knew that mentally, I was ready. Physically, it's a little different of a story, but today got me ready and yeah, I'm on that. Full contact, full-padded practice. Obviously we game planning and installing different things. So, got to compete against the ones. That was fun."
Head coach Mike McCarthy was already impressed with Lamb's ramp-up progress at the beginning of this week after only a few days back in the team facility, indicating he'll be ready by the time Sunday rolls around.
"Where he needs to be, I'm impressed where he is," McCarthy said Monday. "I wasn't expecting him not to be. CeeDee has always been on top of his game as far as conditioning. You can tell where his commitment was this offseason. He's bigger, stronger. We have a number each day that we want to hit. He wanted to go full bore in the practice [last] Thursday, but we had him on a pitch count. ... We feel that will give us 5-6 practices to get him ready. I feel like we'll be where we need to be by the end of the week."
Quarterback Dak Prescott concurred with McCarthy and Lamb, declaring the 2023 NFL receptions leader (135) is good to go for 2024.
"Yeah, he'll be just fine," Prescott said. "We've had two weeks now getting him back in, obviously he was in shape. But on the field, defenders on your back, trying to catch in a tight window. He's ready. He's an elite player. Just turn on the film from last year and you'll see that. He's gotten better. Right now it's about going out there and showing it for both of us."
Last year, Lamb not only led the NFL in catches (135), but he also ranked second in the league in receiving yards (1,749) and third in receiving touchdowns (120). His receptions and receiving yards totals broke Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin's single-season records set back in 1995, the Cowboys' last Super Bowl season. In Lamb's mind, there's no reason why he can't be one of the NFL's top receiver once again in 2024.
"I don't think it would be much of a drop off personally," Lamb said. "I just want the team to win. Obviously contribute well, a lot. We go win ball games."
Lamb and Prescott put in additional work after practice in order to be at their best to win games on top of spending portions of the offseason working out together.
"After practice, this is when we get it in," Lamb said. "If we miss something in practice due to timing or due to one misstep on both parties, that's when we get it in. Other than that, everything has been smooth."
Practice makes perfect as the saying goes, and that's something the Dallas duo has done a lot of both this year and in their four seasons together since 2020.
"Obviously me not getting to be in camp, and I didn't know it [the holdout] was going to be that long, to be honest," Lamb said. " I will say for the missed time, we got a lot of banked reps. We've been working plenty, plenty, different routes, different situations, seeing different coverages, different stances. The list could go on and on. But, yeah, me and Dak, we've always been on the same page since I got here since we've been playing together. I don't think there's gonna be any (rust or disconnect)."
The reason for that is because whenever Lamb was in town, he took advantage of Prescott's "Dakyard," aka the full-size football field in Prescott's backyard at his house in Prosper, Texas, not too far down the road from The Star in Frisco.
"Often. I would say quite often," Lamb said when asked about the frequency of his offseason workouts with Prescott. "Anytime that I'm back in town, and he's obviously back here, I hit him. It's very good having a rich quarterback."
"We locked and loaded," Lamb said of Prescott and himself. "We got an understanding of the offense. We've learned how to thrive together, and we're going to do that."
Now, Lamb is ready to square off against Browns three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward and the Browns' top-ranked total defense (270.2) from the 2023 season.
"They're nice, man," Lamb said. "They're nice all around the board. Edge rushers, they got fast DBs. Very familiar with a couple of them. I know them on a personal level. So, it's going to be fun out there. I'm ready to compete."
That air of confidence Lamb brings into the locker room is exactly what Dallas was missing during his holdout. Now, the Cowboys are whole and loaded up for Week 1.
"He brings a certain type of swagger," Cowboys first-round left tackle Tyler Guyton said Wednesday of Lamb. "That's what we needed."
