Fully operational: What CeeDee Lamb’s return means for an already dangerous Cowboys offense

FRISCO, Texas — Every NFL team’s final injury report comes out Friday afternoon after their last full practice of the week, but there’s no need to wait until Friday for the Dallas Cowboys last report in the case of All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. 

He’s back for Week 7 against the Washington Commanders after missing the last three games with ankle sprain he suffered back in Week 3 at the Chicago Bears.

“I don’t think it’ll be long at all,” Lamb said Thursday when asked how long it will take him to shake the rust off on Sunday. “I feel like I’m out there moving around, running around, being me. Happy as can be, obviously, and [I] just believe in my ankle. Obviously, I feel like it’s it’s back to where I needed it to be. Pretty good [feeling].”

The 26-year-old wideout could have returned last week at the Carolina Panthers in Week 6, but that would have required Lamb playing with limitations and on a snap count. This week, he is all systems go. 

“That’s why we took an extra week off. Just to make sure that I had that comfort,” Lamb said. “Just to make sure that I had the same explosiveness. Just to make sure I had that same stability. I’m cool.”  

Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer turned 52-years-old on Thursday, and he essentially confirmed Lamb’s return with glee before practice even kicked off, posing for a picture with No. 88 and shouting “he’s my present.”

“Yeah if he’s breathing, I’d feel pretty good,” Schottenheimer said on Wednesday. … “CeeDee knows how to play football. If he runs around and catches a pass or two, I’m good.”

Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott confirmed Schottenheimer’s declaration that his No. 1 target is ready to roll in Week 7. 

“A lot of excitement obviously. Just the last two days at practice, he looks good,” Prescott said Thursday. “He’s ready to go. Obviously I saw him last week during the rehab and probably could have then. Being careful, but he’s ready to go. Looks great. It’s going to be fun.”

Two No. 1 receivers

Dallas’ pecking order in the passing game might be a little less pronounced going forward with Lamb rejoining George Pickens as the Cowboys’ 1A and 1B. With Lamb sidelined, Pickens rocketed his performance up to an All-Pro level: Pickens’ six receiving touchdowns are tied with Detroit Lions All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown for the most in the NFL, and his 525 receiving yards rank third. He is also on a five-game streak with a receiving touchdown, tied for the longest active touchdown streak in the NFL with Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Jalen McMillan. 

A significant factor in Pickens’ uptick is Dallas’ realization that he’s more than just the stereotypical, big-bodied outside receiver (6-foot-3-inches tall, 200 pounds) that the Pittsburgh Steelers portrayed Pickens to be in his first three seasons. His route-running heat map, via TruMedia, from his last two seasons in Pittsburgh (2023-2024) glow bright yellow down the sidelines, indicating most of his routes were distributed on vertical deep shots or “go balls.” This year with the Cowboys, Pickens’ 2025 heat map still possesses some glowing yellow down the sideline, but he now also has some of that in the middle of the field.

“The one thing that George has proven over these last couple weeks is our ability to move him around which makes us more difficult to defend,” Schottenheimer said. “Because really CeeDee was the guy we were trying to move around right. and George was kind of one spot. But George has been terrific with us, putting him in different spots, different positions. I think he kind of likes is because it holds his attention and keeps him dialed in. I think it’s a great thing. There’s one ball, we know that. They’re both really good players. So we’ll see where the defense makes the ball go.”

Pickens affirmed his head coach’s suspicions: he is relishing the expansion of his route tree all over the field in 2025 at the age of 24. 

“[It’s] Super good, moving me around especially when CeeDee was out gave me a better understanding of the playbook as well. When he [Lamb] comes back, [receiver Kavontae] Turp[in] comes back, they can move more of us all around a little bit better than we did before,” Pickens said on Wednesday. 

Pickens, a 2022 second-round pick who is in the final year of his rookie deal this season, obviously appreciated the opportunity to pad his numbers with Lamb sidelined, but he’s fully embracing share the label of WR1 again with Lamb in Week 7. 

“Super excited. I don’t even think the words can fully explain fully, him and possibly Turp. Super excited,” Pickens said. “Way more dangerous, way more explosive too when you got other guys like Cee[Dee] and Turp out there. It’s another component of explosiveness that you can’t really describe.” 

So how will Prescott figure out who gets the football now that Lamb is fully healthy, and Pickens has established himself as fully capable of being a No.1 target all on his own? He won’t favor Lamb, who Prescott obviously has the great rapport with having played six seasons together now. It’s simply a race to see who can get open first. Prescott’s current approach is clearly working because he’s thrown 10 touchdowns and no interceptions in the last three games with Lamb missing while rehabbing his sprained ankle.

“It’s as much Schotty, the play caller, and the guys’ [coaches] in the game plan, [their] responsibility of putting them in those positions where they are read No. 1 or read No. 2,” Prescott said. “From there, it’s easy for me. Just stay within myself, keep reading the defense the way I’ve been seeing it, staying within the play, whoever gets open gets it. … Obviously from the way that they orchestrate it, he’ll [Lamb] get his chances.”

Prescott raved about the flexibility and the advantage of having two elite receivers who are both high-end caliber players, and the blessing in disguise that Lamb’s injury was for Pickens’ development. 

“I think in the past of when we break the huddle, you don’t know where CeeDee is lining up, and I think if CeeDee doesn’t get hurt, GP is probably just going to be an outside receiver for the most part going forward. Him having those games, showing his ability, showing what he can do,” Prescott said. … “You’re going to have to figure out where they both are. If they both are maybe in the slot, maybe on the same side. Having the ability to have two guys like that and just put them wherever we feel is best each and every play, it’s only going to be beneficial to us.”

It’s early, but he feels the present day iteration of Lamb along with Pickens is an even more explosive and versatile duo than early-career Lamb and Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper were for him in the early 2020’s.

“CeeDee was young, and he was more just in the slot. We weren’t asking him to get out there, and he hadn’t mastered the position I would say the position quite as he has. These two guys, young guys, … have figured it out. … It’s electric,” Prescott said. “You got two playmakers like that that have the range. They can beat anybody with their speed down the field. Any 50/50 catch over one guy, over two guys. Whatever it is, it just makes it fun. It makes my job a whole lot easier and excited to see them both out there. The best part of it is they’re each other’s biggest fans. They’re each other’s biggest supporters. … So we just got to find a way to spread out 20 balls and four touchdowns [between them].”

Back in May at Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray’s charity softball game, Lamb’s college teammate at Oklahoma, Lamb said he and Pickens “both ones.” He doubled down on that message on Thursday. 

“I was like ‘you got two ones.’ I don’t think everybody believed me until one of us went down, and then you saw [it],” Lamb said. “So it’s kind of like proved me right and proved everybody else wrong about who he is. His humility, the presence he brings to this team and to his game. He’s a dominant receiver, and he’s a very exciting player.”

“I honestly don’t mind seeing him run 60 yards, 30 yards and taking a slant to the crib. Any given play man, he’s a heck of a player,” Lamb continued. “He can catch the ball. His [catch] radius is crazy. The things that he does after the plays. You just got to watch him. He’s a character. He’s amazing.”

That level of amazing has helped Prescott soar to amazing heights his current 71.6% completion rate would rank as the highest in NFL history by a player who also led the league in pass attempts, according to NFL Pro. Prescott leads the NFL with 229 passing attempts entering Week 7. Much of his top five-caliber production has come with Lamb, center Cooper Beebe (ankle), left tackle Tyler Guyton (concussion), right guard Tyler Booker (ankle) and wide receiver KaVontae Turpin (foot) all missing time over the first six weeks of the season. Despite all that, Dallas enters Week 7 as the NFL’s No. 3 scoring offense (29.7 points per game) and No. 1 total offense (387.5 total yards per game).

“That’s Dak being Dak man. … He’s an overcomer. He’s a conqueror,” Lamb said. “With him, he’ll have his guys ready to run through a wall. It wasn’t just me. He missed out on his o-linemen.  … A lot of playmakers, and Dak being able to still Dak, that’s the best thing about it. But when you get us back, hopefully I can help and so can Turp.”  

Going to bat with Jerry Jones

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said on Tuesday that he is weighing the idea of setting aside salary cap space to extend Pickens. Pickens himself said he “wouldn’t mind” re-signing with Dallas. Both Prescott and Lamb plan to find time to chat with Jones before the start of next offseason to make their feelings clear that they want Pickens to be their teammate for the foreseeable future. 

“Yeah, some sort [of way]. Hasn’t happened yet. I’ve been a little busy, but it will,” Prescott said of talking to Jones on Pickens’ behalf. … “When I run into him in that time of privacy, I’ll make sure.”  

“My answer is pretty obvious. I think I made that clear when I first came here: there is no ego here. I need him to get that [bag],” Lamb said, affirming he will talk with Jones about Pickens. “I hope he gets everything that he deserves here and just continue to do what we do.”