Cowboys LISTEN: Can CeeDee Lamb Live Up To '88' Legacy?
In sports, when a player creates a legacy that forever impacts a franchise, it's a sign of respect to disallow any future players to wear that number to allow the legacy of the player to live on through the number.
Some numbers throughout sports are simply iconic: 42 in baseball for Jackie Robinson, 23 in basketball, in Chicago, for Michael Jordan, 99 in hockey for Wayne Gretzky.
The Dallas Cowboys like to do this a little differently. Instead of retiring the number, the team likes to pass on the 88 jersey to the player they deem to be the next great Cowboys wide receiver.
The legacy began with recent Hall of Fame inductee Drew Pearson, who made the number legendary in his 11 seasons in Dallas.
Five years later, Michael Irvin became the next Dallas great to don 88. Like Pearson, Irvin would go on to have an incredible career and bring two Super Bowl championships to Dallas.
A decade after Irvin retired, Dez Bryant became the next Cowboy to prominently wear the revered number. After eight seasons in Dallas, Bryant is fifth all-time in receiving yards in franchise history.
Nobody wore 88 until the Cowboys drafted CeeDee Lamb with the 17th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The number was given to Lamb as a sign of faith the franchise has in him to be one of the best receivers in franchise history.
The number was a topic of discussion in last night's episode of HBO's 'Hard Knocks.'
"This guy wants to go out and make the plays," owner Jerry Jones said.
Lamb caught 74 passes for 935 yards and five touchdowns in his rookie season, which is more than any other former '88' had in their rookie seasons.
"88 is a real legacy here," Lamb said. "There's a lot of pressure in that jersey number and I want to exceed all expectations."
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In this episode of the "Locked On Cowboys" Podcast, hosts Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool discuss Lamb's potential and other storylines stemming from the latest episode of 'Hard Knocks.'
Marcus and Landon deal with all that more on this episode of "Locked On Cowboys." Join us here!
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