How the addition of wide receiver George Pickens in Dallas impacts the Cowboys offense will be fascinating to see. He and incumbent superstar CeeDee Lamb have wowed over the summer in training camp, and they seem to have already formed a tight bond off the field as well.
But having a legitimate threat at WR2 will almost certainly affect Lamb’s receiving stats, which have been rather gaudy since Amari Cooper left town prior to the 2022 season. Lamb will still be among the league’s top pass-catching weapons, no doubt, but the need to feed Pickens- and what the Cowboys hope will prove to be a revitalized run game- will likely keep something of a lid on Lamb’s receiving totals.
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That’s what NFL Network analyst Cynthia Frelund says, anyway. The chief number-cruncher ran over 73 million simulations for the 2025 season to arrive at the projected league leaders in 11 top statistical categories. And her computer models like Lamb to finish fourth overall in both receptions and receiving yards.
Lamb’s projected 109 catches place him just behind Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson and Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown, but well off the 128-reception pace set by Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase. Lamb’s figure of 109 would rank as his second-best season as a pro.
The models have those same four receivers leading the way in yards, too. Chase is the projected champ here as well with 1,722 yards. Jefferson and St. Brown follow, with Lamb once again finishing fourth overall, at 1,486 yards. And once again, that would be his second-best effort, behind only his monster first-team All-Pro year of 2023.
Interestingly, those projections do not apparently translate to points, as Frelund’s models don’t have Lamb placing in the top five for receiving touchdowns.
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And that’s not the only bit of disappointing news. Lamb is the only Cowboys player to appear at all in the projections. Dak Prescott is not among the top five quarterbacks, nor is any Cowboys running back anywhere to be found on the lists of top rushers. No Dallas cornerback finishes in the top five for interceptions, and as for expected sack leaders, Frelund did not include Micah Parsons in her projections due to the uncertainty surrounding his contract status and its potential impact on his play.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb projected for top-5 finish among receivers