The Dallas Cowboys couldn’t believe that former Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had not been drafted when it came their turn in the first round of the NFL Draft last Thursday.

“We thought he was a Top 10 pick,” Cowboys chief operation officer Stephen Jones said. “We never really thought we had a chance to get him. Every mock draft we did, we had him long gone.”

Lamb was pleasantly surprised, too.

“I didn’t [think it was possible], but I’m happy that’s where I ended up,” Lamb said.

The Cowboys were so sure Lamb was out of reach that they didn’t conduct a pre-draft virtual visit with Lamb. They thought he was the best receiver in a field full of talented wideouts.

Other teams were shocked about Lamb’s availability, too. Jones said he had three offers for that slot just before the pick. But the Cowboys couldn’t pass up a chance to land Lamb. “He trumped them,” Jones said of the trade offers. “He earned the pick.”

Lamb had met with the Cowboys during the NFL Combine but he had not inclination that they would draft him with the 17th pick in the first round. Lamb was passed over by a couple of teams that picked wide receivers. Almost all mock drafts had him going higher in the first round.

“Honestly I didn’t know if they were going to take me,” Lamb said. “When my phone rang it surprised me. Everything that I dreamed of was in that phone call.”

“He’s a dynamic football player,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “He carries that alpha status. The ability to play what I refer to as all four positions, inside, outside, move around, create favorable matches as we move into the upcoming season. We want to have flexibility to move all our perimeter players around. By far felt he was a dynamic player with the ball in his hands.”

Lamb is from Richmond, Texas. He was a consensus first-team All-American and Biletnikoff Award finalist  his junior year.  In 2019, Lamb caught 62 passes for 1,327 yards and 14 touchdowns. In national rankings, he was third by averaging 21.4 yards per catch. That was the best in the Big 12 Conference. And that is the highest average by any OU player in a season (with at least 50 catches).

Lamb led the Big 12 and was tied for fifth in the country in TD catches. Lamb was ranked 10th nationally with his 102.1 yards per game despite ranking 71st with 4.8 grabs per contest.

He was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2019 Big 12 Championship game with 173 yards on eight catches – including a 71-yarder – in the win over No. 8 Baylor.

He ranks second in OU’s career receiving TDs (32), third in career receiving yards (3,292 – the most nationally over the last three seasons) and career 100-yard receiving games (14), sixth in career receptions (173) and 15th in career all-purpose yards (3,799). His 19 yards per catch is the highest career average in OU history among players with at least 130 receptions.

“I’m very thrilled for CeeDee and his family,” said OU coach Lincoln Riley. “Been there with him since day one and remember watching him when he was a sophomore in high school. The progression he’s made since then and the impact he made on the OU program and our university is just absolutely tremendous.” Last year, former OU wideout Marquise Brown was a first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens.