CeeDee Lamb had 24 of the Cowboys’ 29 punt returns during his rookie season. There is no reason to believe that won’t continue this season despite his importance to the offense.
Lamb continued to work as the team’s primary punt returner during the offseason program.
“We made it clear when I hired John Fassel [as special teams coordinator] that special teams were going to be a priority here,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “I don’t view players graduating from special teams. . . . You like to be able to see your players do more than one thing. It’s something that we talk about a lot in player acquisition. What are the two things he can do? Obviously, his offensive and defensive role, but what part of special teams can he contribute? And hey, you need more than one returner, too. We understand that. It’s a long season. It’s a longer season.
“I’ve gone through it before. Randall Cobb would probably be the last player that I went through it where he started out primarily as the returner and then as he grew and his numbers grew, you start looking at pitch count and things like that. I don’t see us there with CeeDee. But at the end of the day, we’ll have more than one returner.”
Cedrick Wilson is expected to serve as the backup punt returner, while Tony Pollard will continue as the Cowboys’ primary kickoff returner.