Cowboys, CeeDee Lamb bungled their deadline for doing a deal

When it comes to high-stakes contract negotiations, the first decision becomes one of the most important.When is the deadline for getting a deal done?For the Cowboys and receiver CeeDee Lamb, the deadline they set was a mistake.Look at the Vikings and Justin Jefferson. They decided to make the clock strike 12 before the mandatory minicamp in June. And so, when a deal was finalized, he was available for a couple of offseason practices and all of training camp.Lamb missed all of camp and all of the preseason. He'll be playing catchup until he literally catches up. And there will be more pressure on him to play like he did last year.It's unclear whether the player or the team set the deadline. Given that Lamb, based on his comments from Tuesday, wanted to be at camp, chances are the Cowboys decided to make this week the week to move to their bottom line. Especially since owner Jerry Jones seemed to relish the extra attention that came from Lamb's holdout.Jones knew what to say and when to say it, in order to get the most bang for his unwillingness to commit to spending his bucks. Was it a coincidence that Jones said he had "no urgency" to sign Lamb, just as the Giants and Patriots...