Should Cowboys CeeDee Lamb Return Punts?
FRISCO - Is Dallas Cowboys rookie wide receiver CeeDee Lamb too valuable to be exposed to being used as the punt returner? Or is he too valuable as a punt returner to be kept from the job?
"We're so fortunate that he ended up being there for us," Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said of Lamb being available as the No. 17 pick in April's NFL Draft. "I think he's going to make a big, big difference in our offensive football team, and for that matter even special teams. It's not going to surprise me to see him back there potentially helping in the return game as well."
That's not shocking news, given that way before Dallas started prepping specifically for Sunday's NFL Week 1 opener at the Los Angeles Rams, the Oklahoma Sooners product lined up first and often as the punt returner in training camp here at The Star.
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But it's still a newsworthy pronouncement, as increasingly teams consider not exposing truly valuable position players to the vulnerable situations that the punt-return job can create.
Of course, not everybody is ready to "pronounce'' it.
Said John "Bones'' Fassel, Dallas' special-teams coordinator, refusing to corroborate: "Tune in ... When I was in Oakland, Al Davis one time got mad at me. He said never give information, only get it. That one has stuck with me. ... So, tune in."
Oh, we will, But again, I already "tuned in'' to every day at training camp, where the 6-1, 200-pound Lamb immediately demonstrated himself to be incredibly smooth in movement before the catch (receptions and fielding punts), and incredibly elusive after the catch (in both areas).
He was a spectacular open-field performer at OU as a receiver, but as a returner? The numbers were there as well, as he returned 54 punts for 475 yards over his three seasons, with an average of 8.8 yards per return.
There is a school of thought that in addition to the injury risk, the number of times decent NFL returns are erased due to penalty makes the punt returner a bit of a throw-away job; just field the ball, don't goof up, and hand the ball to your offense.
But Jones, in speaking recently to "G-Bag Nation'' on 105.3 The Fan, suggests that all of the same traits that make Lamb a potentially great pass-catcher - so great Dallas truly believes this team will become just the fourth in NFL history with four 1,000-yard wideout - translates to making him a difference-maker on punt returns.
"I think he's exceeded all expectations,'' Jones said. "He's got rare football IQ," Jones said. "It just comes so natural to him. Whether it's his route-running and his feel for the game, whether it's catching the ball, whether it's his ability to accelerate after the catch, everything just seems to click with him.
"I know certainly his teammates have enjoyed him, he's super, super competitive, he works super hard, and i just can't say enough nice things about him."
Nice things, and interesting things. ... and maybe his teammates would also enjoy the art of the punt return transfer from the safe and mundane to "enjoying'' the thrills of CeeDee Lamb with the ball in his hands, a few more times.
