With a nod to history, Dallas Cowboys first-round draft pick CeeDee Lamb will wear No. 88.
Lamb’s number choice was up for debate since the Cowboys selected him, and he told 105.3 The Fan on draft night that he would wear No. 10 in Dallas after wearing No. 2 with the Oklahoma Sooners.
According to the NFL Pro Shop, however, fans can purchase Lamb’s No. 88 Cowboys jersey.
The Cowboys are hoping Lamb can track along the same lines as some of the previous 88s — Drew Pearson, Michael Irvin and Dez Bryant.
Pearson wore No. 88 from 1973 to 1983 and is in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor. Irvin, a Hall of Famer, wore No. 88 from 1988 to 1999 and left as the franchise leader in receptions. Bryant wore No. 88 from 2010 to 2017 and is the franchise leader with 73 touchdown receptions.
The Cowboys did not have a first-round need at receiver entering the 2020 NFL draft, but Lamb, who had 32 touchdown catches and two 1,000-yard seasons at Oklahoma, was the sixth-rated player on their board. When he was available with the 17th overall pick, the Cowboys were more than happy to add him to an offense that already included Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup.
After the Cowboys selected Lamb, owner and general manager Jerry Jones expressed the wish that Lamb would wear No. 88. Jones told a story about his former Arkansas teammate Jerry Lamb, who died in December and wore the uniform number in the 1960s.
“We couldn’t have won a national championship without him,” Jones said of Jerry Lamb. “He was a wonderful player. This is a little drama from my perspective, but when we were all sitting there [during the draft] and had said our peace, then we said, ‘OK. What’s it going to be?’ I said, ‘In honor of my great friend that just passed this year, we’re going to have his namesake come on over here and wear old No. 88, just like Michael and Dez and those guys. And we’ve got us a receiver.’
“Let me tell you one thing, if he’s got the compete and heart of that Jerry Lamb, he’ll be bad to the bone.”