{"id":15462,"date":"2024-12-29T04:34:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T04:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=15462"},"modified":"2024-12-29T04:34:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T04:34:31","slug":"cowboys-predicted-to-add-record-setting-playmaker-to-bolster-ceedee-lamb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=15462","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys Predicted to Add Record-Setting Playmaker to Bolster CeeDee Lamb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2182524503-e1735419143159.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Cowboys potential draftee Xavier Restrepo\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Cowboys potential draftee Xavier Restrepo<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys\/\">Cowboys<\/a>\u00a0will close out the 2024 season in fitting fashion, taking yet another injury-riddled roster into a game in which they will be underdogs. This time, they will be without top receiver\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/ceedee-lamb\/\">CeeDee Lamb<\/a>, who has been the most consistent player on the team this year. Lamb has a shoulder injury and will be shut down for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n<p>No matter how things play out from here, the Cowboys will need to figure out a way to add depth to help out Lamb this season, as he is clearly their lone big-time offensive threat. Lamb has taken a step back this year amid injuries and a contract holdout that cost him all of training camp and most of the preseason before finally agreeing to a four-year, $136 million contract with the Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p>Still, even in a relatively subpar year, he has 101 catches and 1,194 yards to his credit. That\u2019s a testament to Lamb\u2019s greatness. It\u2019s also a testament to the fact that the Cowboys need a No. 2 wide receiver target.<\/p>\n<h2>Cowboys in Need of a CeeDee Lamb Complement<\/h2>\n<p>As it stands,\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/brandin-cooks\/\">Brandin Cooks<\/a> is 31 years old and has seen his production taper as he struggles with a knee issue. He has just 19 catches for 192 yards this season.<\/p>\n<p>Third-year receiver<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/jalen-tolbert\/\">\u00a0Jalen Tolbert<\/a>\u00a0has shown talent, and will be a factor going forward. But is he good enough to be a bookend to Lamb? Not likely. He has 42 catches for 482 yards and six touchdowns on the season.<\/p>\n<p>Adding a high-level receiver who can rack up catches and yardage should be a priority in the upcoming draft. And USA Today has the Cowboys addressing that issue with an interesting name\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/xavier-restrepo-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Xavier Restrepo of Miami<\/a>, who declared for the NFL draft on Saturday just before his team was to appear in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.<\/p>\n<p>USA Today projects the Cowboys adding Restrepo, who set the Hurricanes\u2019 all-time receiving record with 200 catches to go with 2,844 yards and 21 touchdowns. He\u2019d be an excellent slot option capable of racking up catches, with the ability to break long runs.<\/p>\n<p>As 33rd Team wrote of Restrepo<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the33rdteam.com\/xavier-restrepo-2025-nfl-draft-scouting-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">\u00a0in its scouting report<\/a>: \u201cRestrepo is a football player to his core. He\u2019s tough, feisty, plays bigger than he is, and has great instincts. This isn\u2019t a receiver who will blow you away with his physical skill set, but he achieves the two most important roles for a player at his position: he gets open and catches the football.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cowboys potential draftee Xavier Restrepo The\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0will close out the 2024 season in fitting fashion, taking yet another injury-riddled roster into a game in which they will be&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cowboys Predicted to Add Record-Setting Playmaker to Bolster CeeDee Lamb - 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