Headed for increased volume

Lamb is the clear top option at wide receiver for the Cowboys this season, and quarterback Dak Prescott indicated Thursday he intends to look for the third-year player every chance he gets, Nick Eatman of the team's official website reports.

"CeeDee is a guy that wants the ball, expects the ball," Prescott said. "When one guy is on him he's not covered in his head. And I appreciate that and like that. So I think in that sense yeah, as Kellen said, we'll feature him. Some plays will be designed to get it to him but in a case where everybody is one on one across the board, yeah, he's our guy to go to." The offseason departure of Amari Cooper, along with injuries to Michael Gallup (knee) and James Washington (foot), have left Lamb as the only wideout on the Dallas roster with any sort of real NFL experience to begin the year. That's likely to lead to plenty of double coverage, but it should also result in a huge uptick in targets for the 23-year-old, who averaged 7.2 targets a game over his first two seasons. With little competition for looks, at least until Gallup returns to action, Lamb could push into elite territory in that metric -- only 11 receivers averaged 9.0 targets a game or more last season, a figure that seems well within reach for CeeDee in 2022.