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A reported price for Justin Jefferson could have an obvious impact on CeeDee Lamb.

The Dallas Cowboys need to take care of CeeDee Lamb. He is among the best players on the team and being currently set to enter the final year of his contract (the option season of his rookie deal after having been a first-round pick in 2020) is not ideal. You want to reward your stars for stellar performances and Lamb is coming off of literally the most statistically impressive season that a wide receiver has ever had in franchise history.

As if that weren’t enough reason to want to get a deal done with Lamb (he and the team are reportedly not close) there is also the market at his position and that it is seemingly a volcano on the verge of erupting.

Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Brandon Aiyuk and Amon-Ra St. Brown are a handful of names that are all looking to get paid and handsomely so. The Philadelphia Eagles, ever understanding of the finances of football, understand that getting deals done early is usually how you save in the long run and locked up DeVonta Smith earlier this week.

The clock is ticking.

A reported AAV for Justin Jefferson certainly impacts CeeDee Lamb

For the moment Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins holds the largest AAV of all wide receivers at $30M. It is safe to say that in the relative blink of an eye that this is going to change.

One projection from earlier in the offseason had Lamb receiving an extension that also saw him average $30M per year. That feels a bit improbable given that $30M is the current going rate and these things are generally a “the next guy gets a little bit more” proposition, but anything is possible.

If and when another wideout beats Lamb to the punch you can bet your bottom dollar (if you haven’t thrown it in the Pay CeeDee Lamb Fund) that his price will go up. On Thursday. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini noted in their newsletter “Scoop City” that Justin Jefferson could fetch $32M per year.