Cowboys, CeeDee Lamb conform to huge extension; Faculty Soccer Playoff predictions

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💰 Good morning to everybody, however particularly to …

CEEDEE LAMB AND THE DALLAS COWBOYS, AT LONG LAST

It is about time. The Cowboys signed CeeDee Lamb to a four-year, $136 million extension, lastly ending the star huge receiver’s months-long maintain out slightly below two weeks earlier than the common season begins.

• Lamb, 25, will get $34 million per yr, second-most amongst huge receivers and solely behind Justin Jefferson ($35 million per yr). Lamb is the fifth huge receiver to eclipse $30 million yearly; all 5 signed these contracts this offseason.
• Lamb’s deal contains $100 million assured and a $38 million signing bonus, the most important ever for a large receiver.
• Lamb completely deserves it, coming off an NFL-high and Cowboys-record 135 catches for 1,749 yards (additionally a franchise document) and 12 touchdowns. He was a first-team All Professional and completed third in Offensive Participant of the Yr voting.
• Micah Parsons, who can be due for an extension, congratulated Lamb.

It was an angsty offseason from each Lamb and Jerry Jones (who made extra headlines Monday), however the vital factor is that forward of a essential yr, Dak Prescott‘s celebrity high goal is locked in. Now, Garrett Podell writes, Jones can deal with Prescott.

• Podell: “Prescott has each a no-trade clause and a no-franchise-tag clause, which means he has the ability to stroll into unrestricted free company in March 2025 unencumbered. Nevertheless, the one manner this deal will get executed is that if the Jones boys alter their perspective on the quarterback contract market.”

With soccer season right here, we all know you’ve got bought loads on the road this season. So we’re right here to assist: CBSSports.com has full breakdowns, grades and rankings of each sports activities e book and a take a look at all the most effective affords for brand spanking new signups.

👍 Honorable mentions

🏈 And never such a very good morning for …

HUNDREDS OF NFL PLAYERS

Minimize day is the worst day on the NFL calendar, and a whole bunch of gamers are about to expertise it first-hand. NFL groups should get their roster right down to 53 by 4 p.m. ET, and whereas many groups have gotten began, there is a lengthy, lengthy technique to go, and a protracted, lengthy watch for gamers on roster bubbles.

For lots of the gamers who do not make rosters, this would be the closest they will ever get. Many desires will finish at present. It is a harsh reminder that as enjoyable because the NFL is, it is also a enterprise, and enterprise may be merciless.

Lots of the names on the chopping block at present are unfamiliar ones. However there can be extra notable departures, too, and that may embody a former Tremendous Bowl hero, Cody Benjamin writes.

• Benjamin: “Kadarius Toney — Hampered by accidents in between a splashy secondary function as a receiver and returner, Toney has ‘battled to make the workforce’ in keeping with coach Andy Reid, suggesting he is nicely behind fellow wideouts like Rashee Rice, Marquise Brown and Xavier Worthy on the pecking order. The Chiefs have by no means been hesitant to nurse a reclamation challenge, however the former Giants prospect has struggled to remain on the sector.”

We’re monitoring each single lower right here.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 2024 Faculty Soccer Playoff predictions, Heisman picks, extra

FOUR. MORE. DAYS. We’re nearly to Week 1, school soccer followers, and our specialists are right here with Faculty Soccer Playoff predictions and particular person award picks.

Let’s begin with the favourite: Georgia obtained 4 of the eight votes to earn the No. 1 seed within the new 12-team playoff, and the Bulldogs additionally earned 5 votes to win all of it. Each have been most of any workforce. Chip Patterson defined his decide.

• Patterson: “Whereas Georgia doesn’t have all the identical form of items that it had throughout its back-to-back title run, the Bulldogs have elevated at quarterback with Carson Beck. That, plus the chip on the shoulder that has turn into evident from lacking out on the playoff final yr, has me giving the Dawgs the nod to get again to the highest of the mountain.”

Whereas Beck is sweet, considered one of our specialists’ hottest Heisman Trophy picks is one other SEC quarterback. Shehan explains …

• Jeyarajah: “Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama — Wanting again on the record of Heisman Trophy winners within the Faculty Soccer Playoff period, two tendencies emerge. The winner tends to be a statistical freak and sometimes on a workforce contending for the Faculty Soccer Playoff. Merely put, there is no such thing as a participant on a workforce within the preseason high 10 positioned to be freakier statistically than Milroe. The junior was barely inconsistent in his first season as a starter however nonetheless cleared 3,000 whole yards and 35 touchdowns. Kalen DeBoer is a quarterback wizard and will really unlock Milroe’s huge potential … “

You’ll be able to see all the picks — together with projected playoff fields, overrated and underrated squads and extra — proper right here.

🏈 What we realized from the NFL preseason

Week 3 of the preseason often would not function a ton of starters, however the Panthers reversed that development by placing Bryce Younger in sport motion for the primary time. It turned out to be best-case situation. The second-year quarterback led a landing drive and was considered one of Jeff Kerr’s preseason Week 3 winners and “the nice” for Carolina in Garrett’s “Good, unhealthy and ugly for each workforce.”

• Podell: “Younger confirmed the poise within the pocket to hold in there and make throws. New Carolina head coach Dave Canales has revived each Geno Smith‘s profession with the Seahawks, and Baker Mayfield‘s profession with the Buccaneers. Let’s have a look at if he can pull the rabbit out of the hat yet one more time in 2024.”

Cody has 10 issues we realized from the preseason.

The preseason as an entire additionally gave us a sneak peak at a extremely thrilling draft class, headlined by six quarterbacks picked within the high 12. Caleb Williams leads Josh Edwards’ preseason All-Rookie Workforce, and all 5 first-round quarterbacks who’re wholesome — sorry, J.J. McCarthy — earned robust grades in Chris Trapasso’s first-round rookie preseason grades.

🏀 When will there be a lady head coach in D-I males’s school basketball?

Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish’s glorious Candid Coaches sequence continued Monday with a thought-provoking query: “Will a lady be the pinnacle coach of a Division I males’s basketball workforce by 2030?”

I will not share the outcomes, however here is a quote that stood out:

• Coach who mentioned “no”: “Whereas I do not imagine there can be a lady head males’s basketball coach by 2030, I do suppose the chance is larger than ever. With the elevated visibility of ladies’s basketball, I imagine an elite girls’s coach resembling a Daybreak Staley may get a males’s head teaching job if she actively pursued it. Nevertheless, with the compensation for ladies’s jobs steadily growing, notably on the highest ranges, I do not know if the motivation is nice sufficient for somebody of Daybreak Staley’s stature to take such a threat.”

📺 What we’re watching Tuesday

🎾 We’re watching the US Open. This is how.
⚾ Astros at Phillies, 6:40 p.m. on TBS
🏀 Aces at Wings, 8 p.m. on NBA TV