CFZ Why Cedee Lamb is good but not great…yet

Bobhaze

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Cedee Lamb is a very good NFL wide receiver. I’m glad he’s a Cowboy and I look forward to seeing him continue to improve. But….he’s not yet the elite receiver he was drafted to be. He’s been good, just not great. Again, at least not yet.

Below are the reasons why in my opinion Cedee Lamb has not yet cracked the list of elite receivers. I would rank him perhaps top 20 but nowhere near the top 10.
  • Finished 21st in receptions in 2021 with 79 receptions.
  • Finished 16th in yards in 2021 with 1,102 yds.
  • Finished 35th in TD receptions in 2021 with 6.
  • Had a streak of 17 straight games without 100 yards or more in a game. (Had his first 100 yd game since last Oct last Sunday vs Pack)
  • Went 9 straight games without a TD reception from 2021-22.
  • His rookie season of 2020, he definitely had a good year- 74 receptions for 935 yds and 5 TDs. That’s very good for a rookie, but he finished 27th in receptions and 22nd in yards, 32nd in TDs.
  • Has had a problem with drops in his first two years although it’s gotten better of late.
  • Is known to be a lazy route runner who doesn’t make route adjustments crisply.
  • Is excellent with yards after catch- finished top 5 last year.
  • Doesn’t possess great speed but is very quick.
Bottom line for me- Lamb is a really good receiver. He’s at best a low end #1 or high end #2 receiver. But the above makes it clear to me, he’s not “elite”. Maybe he can develop more in several areas and become elite.

I’m hoping he continues to work hard to improve his game. He’s still only 24. I’m not knocking the guy but just being honest about what kind of receiver he is at this point. Good but not great.
 

KJJ

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He doesn’t have a top end speed, suffers too many drops and doesn’t battle for the ball. He’s good after the catch, but hasn’t been as good after the catch as he was in college. Not sure he’ll ever develop into a great receiver but he is very good. He would make an excellent number two receiver or in the slot, but I’m not satisfied with him as the number one receiver.
 

Bobhaze

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Nowhere near the top-10?


He is in the top-10 in receptions, yards, and TDs right now and has had his QB for only 4 games
Willie…you’re right. Through 9 games this year, Cedee is 10th in receptions and 10th in yds, and tied for 4th in TDs. But my overall take on him through 2.5 seasons is still that he’s not yet an elite receiver.
 

WillieBeamen

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Its hard for me to hold Ceedee accountable for the 17 game stretch of not hitting 100. Amari also didnt have any 100 yd games after that Vikings game last year.

Ceedee does need to get a better grasp of route adjustments and clean up his slant routes

With that said, hes showed up consistently and is clutch.

He has had 8 straight games of over 50 yards. In comparison, Amari didnt have more than 4 games in a row of 50 yards.
 

DallasDomination

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CD gets moved around and he still doesn’t do anything…

Do you guys remember Dez would run like 3 routes because Garrett was a moron and had zero creativity. Yet he still made plays consistently. CD isn’t a real #1 like Amari Cooper let alone a 88.

He’s a solid WR on any team.. he’s just not a 88
 

Streifenkarl

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Well, Lamb suffers from the same sickness this whole team can't recover from: lack of consistency. So no, he's not a #1 recveiver (yet?).

This team needs get into their stride. I'm not saying win every game, but win the important ones. Now one could say in the regular season a win is a win, but some wins tell you more about the level a team is playing on than others. The GB game was such a game. The Vikings game will be such a game.

Lose these, and you know they won't go far in the play offs. Win them and you know this team can build on something.

I guess that's why fans are more devasted by losses against GB, than they are happy about wins against the Bears. At least that's the way how I feel.

So to get back to the topic of this thread: If Lamb, like Dak or Micah, can't deliver in these games and make the difference, then no, they are not top notch players. Irvin was a difference maker, a play maker. I'd need to see that from Lamb every now and then to put him on that shelve.
 

RonWashington

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No point in letting Lsmb catch passes elsewhere . Cooper wasn’t that old yet he’s in Cleveland surely with the money invested in Prescott no one thinks Lamb leaving makes sense . What pay the QB position premium $ then strip away weapons .

“C’mon man” as Keyshawn would say

:huh:
 

Oz-of-Cowboy-Country

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When lamb gets targeted like a number one wide receiver then he will put up numbers like a number one wide receiver. The problem with Lamb's production right now is everything is going across the middle. He just ran his first seven route in his career last week. He is running a nine route about three times in 3 years. So you keep running everything across the middle and defenses are going to start the flood the middle. And I don't see why people keep blaming lamb or dag for our offensive struggles. Are they not paying attention to the play calling? Moore needs to stretch the defense on the outside. He needs to call deeper outside routes, while having a running back run a swing route to the same side. Just stop calling all of these pass plays across the middle in all of that traffic. We all know bad things happen across the middle... especially when your offensive coordinator isn't making the defense defender the whole field.

So Dak and Lamb's struggles come from our play caller. Dak and Lamb suck because defenses know what's coming.
 

baltcowboy

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CeeDee is 23 years old and is only going to get better. He went from a slot receiver/3rd receiver in his first season to a second receiver last year. Now he is our number 1. The problem is that no one has any patience anymore. Fans and the media are comparing CeeDee to Jefferson/Chase. Playing for the Cowboys every mistake is magnified. I can’t remember him dropping a pass since the Giants game. Since then CeeDee has been excellent. Also you fans worried about his contract, CeeDee is under team control for the next two seasons. I guess some of you don’t want to pick up his option so we can sign OBJ and rely on Tolbert.:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 

RodeoJake

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Lamb’s stats this year show him to be in the top 10 in most categories despite playing with a backup QB most of the season…I swear, if he wore burnt orange in college this forum wouldn’t pile on like it has on the guy.

Stats don't tell the whole picture, especially our last game. Yes. He had great numbers, but a couple of route gaffes kinda negate the good. Lamb ain't a disciplined route runner and his hands ain't the best. He's a freelancer who's best in the slot. Maybe he'll clean up his game and be great, but he ain't there yet.

As for the UT thing, I don't like college ball at all. It's like being a fan of AA baseball. What's the point of being a fan of a bunch of guys who'll never see an NFL field? When I look at a player, I don't care where he attended college. That said. Ex Sooners do tend to have a problem being disciplined on the field. They were so much better than everyone else in the B12, they didn't have to play with discipline. That doesn't cut it in the NFL.
 
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