It was a long time coming when the Dallas Cowboys signed wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to a four-year, $136 million contract after the star held out from practice. Now with the Cowboys and Lamb ramping up for the season for Week 1, team owner Jerry Jones answers the concern from everyone of why it took so long to sign one of their top players.Jones was on the Stephen A. Smith show where he spoke about a bevy of topics with one focused on the deal with Lamb amidst others surrounding the Cowboys and handling other contracts like with quarterback Dak Prescott or Micah Parsons. The owner would admit there was not a sense of urgency on his part since Lamb had to be on the field regardless as it was an extension he received.

“Now let me get this straight, we’re questioning whether or not I had the same evaluation of CeeDee Lamb because I was a little slow in people’s opinion about get him on paper,” Jones said. “When he got on paper did you see how much went on paper? Now the same guy that was slow is the one that wrote that number on that paper and signed it. There was never any question about how we felt CeeDee Lamb was as a football player or what he could do to basically help our team.”

“I’m not trying to be cute, but I don’t see any rewards or I don’t see any penalties on your timer,” Jones continued. “Does he get on the field, and is he on the field when he ought to be out there, so I had no urgency at all about getting him on the field.”

After CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jones implies next steps for the Cowboys

Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

With Jones having faced endless criticism for stalling contract negotiations about his players, he would eventually get one done with Lamb who has emerged as one of the league’s top receivers. Last season, Lamb recorded 135 receptions for 1,749 yards to go along with 12 touchdowns.

The biggest drama after the Lamb contract is now with the Cowboys and Prescott who is seeking a contract extension, but it seemingly heading in the direction that he won’t get one before the season. He is set to be a free agent by the end of the season and when Jones talked about future contracts, he mentioned Parsons and the hypothetical of a “young offensive lineman,” but not Prescott.

“Now I’m sensitive about what fans, all the ones that are against the Cowboys as well as the ones that are for the Cowboys,” Jones said. “And I want to look good as well as anyone else but it was important for us, on every aspect to really try to husband as much of the resources that would go in Lamb’s direction. It was critical of us to husband $1,000, $50,000, $100,000 because in our system that’s much more in our system that we got to pay Parsons or that’s that much more for us to pay that young Offensive Lineman that we want to renew his contract three years from now.”

Dallas opens the season on Week 1 on the road against the Cleveland Browns as they look to repeat as NFC East champions and overcome their postseason struggles after last year’s disappointment.