Jerry Jones digs Cowboys in bigger hole with half-hearted CeeDee Lamb apology

Is it time to hit the panic button over CeeDee Lamb's contract holdout? If it isn't, it will be soon because the Dallas Cowboys' regular-season opener is officially less than a month away. While numerous star players have had holdouts extend into September, Jerry Jones made the situation exceedingly more tense this week when he said he sense the urgency to get Lamb signed before the end of camp.

While Jones' words were taken out of context, there was no reason for him to poke the proverbial bear. Ever-dormant on social media, Lamb caught wind of Jones' viral comment and replied in the form of a sarcastic laugh. It's clear that Lamb did not find it all humorous.

There isn't any reason to think that Lamb and the Cowboys' relationship is hostile or fractured. However, it's never smart to diminish a superstar's value and Jones continued to dig Dallas into a hole when he offered a half-hearted apology before Sunday's preseason tilt against the Rams.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones apologized to WR CeeDee Lamb

"I think I got in trouble about it the other day when I said, ‘Look, we’re not urgent about CeeDee'. Well, no one appreciates CeeDee being on the field any more than I do," said Jones, via Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports. “I understand completely the angst that’s happening (about) whether you’re missed or not. Well, CeeDee: You’re missed.”

“But let me say this, he wouldn’t be taking a snap out here today if he’d been here. You’ve got to use your head when you expose key players. . . . We know exactly what CeeDee can do."

Jones is notoriously stubborn so it's highly likely that someone got in his ear to make nice about Lamb publicly. Because of that, we're hard-pressed to give Jones credit for "apologizing."

Wouldn't a full-fledged understanding of the "angst" be doing something about it instead of ... doing absolutely nothing? If Lamb was really missed, wouldn't Jones jump through hoops to get him into camp? That's why it's so difficult to take Jones' apology to heart. If fans can see right through Jones, don't you think Lamb can, too?

Many Cowboys fans have grown numb to Jones' desire to cause a stir in the media. He's done this before amid a tense contract negotiation. During Ezekiel Elliott's holdout of yesteryear, Jones was famously quoted saying "Zeke who?" after a strong preseason game from Tony Pollard.

It's all part of Jones' shtick. He's a genius when it comes to making the Cowboys a national talking point, but it says a lot that fans are collectively begging for him to stop getting in front of a microphone.

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