CeeDee Lamb is one of the most talented wide receivers in the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys drafted him 17th overall in 2020. In 2024 he signed a four-year, $136 million contract extension, making him one of the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the league. He has speed, hands, and route running that make him genuinely difficult to defend.
He credits his mother for most of it.
Leta Ramirez raised CeeDee largely on her own after she and his father divorced. She worked as a medical assistant, drove him to practice across long distances, held five children’s lives together after Hurricane Katrina forced the family from Louisiana to Texas, and did it all without drawing attention to herself.
CeeDee told The Dallas Morning News in September 2020: “She’s a very strong woman. I know there were nights that she cried because she couldn’t provide everything for her kids at all times.”
That is the story.
From Opelousas to New Orleans
Leta Ramirez was born in October 1979 in Opelousas, Louisiana. Opelousas is a small city in St. Landry Parish, deep in Cajun and Creole country. It is known for its music, its food, and its tight community bonds. Growing up there shaped Leta with values that stayed with her: family first, work hard, stay loyal.
She is of Hispanic and European descent, a cultural background that influenced her family traditions and the way she raised her children. She attended Northshore High School in Louisiana. After school she met Cliff Lamb, and the two started a family together.
Cliff Lamb, born in September 1976, was an athlete. He played college football at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas. He was the one who introduced CeeDee to the game, teaching him the basics early and running drills with him. Cliff has spoken publicly about watching his son do things at age 12 and 13 that fans are now watching him do on Sunday afternoons in NFL stadiums.
CeeDee was born Cedarian DeLeon Lamb on April 8, 1999, in Opelousas. Leta was 19 years old. The family eventually moved to New Orleans, where they built their life until one storm changed everything.
Hurricane Katrina and the Move to Texas
Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in late August 2005. CeeDee was six years old. The storm was catastrophic, displacing over a million people across the Gulf Coast and destroying entire communities. For the Lamb and Ramirez family, it meant leaving Louisiana entirely.
Leta made the decision to move her family to Houston, Texas. It was not an easy call. Louisiana was home. Opelousas and New Orleans were where her roots were, where her culture lived, where she understood the rhythms of everyday life. Houston was new territory.
But she was thinking about her children, not her comfort. Houston offered stability. It offered opportunities. And for a young boy with football ability who needed space to develop, it offered something the upheaval of post-Katrina Louisiana could not.
That move turned out to be one of the most consequential decisions in CeeDee Lamb’s football story. Houston gave him access to stronger high school competition, better coaching infrastructure, and ultimately the path to the University of Oklahoma and then the NFL Draft.
Raising Five Children Alone
Cliff and Leta divorced when CeeDee was nine years old. CeeDee lived primarily with his mother after the separation, though Cliff stayed involved and visited regularly. Both parents attended his games and supported him through the draft.
But the daily weight of it fell on Leta. She had five children: Christian Lamb, Taribbean Ramirez, Andres, Brianna, and CeeDee. She was working full-time as a medical assistant, first at the University of Texas Health Science Center and later at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
MD Anderson is one of the most respected cancer treatment and research institutions in the world. Working there as a medical assistant is a demanding, skilled job. You are in a high-pressure healthcare environment, supporting patients who are seriously ill. You do not do that job part-time.
Leta did it while driving CeeDee to practice, managing school schedules for multiple children, and making sure the household ran. CeeDee has been candid about what that looked like from the inside. He knows there were nights his mother broke down. He knows she did not always have enough. He watched it and he carried it with him.
That is why the nights crying that he mentioned to the Dallas Morning News land so differently than most athlete tribute quotes. He was not being poetic. He was being accurate.
Uncle Chester and the Football Education
Leta had a brother named Chester Ramirez Jr. He played football at the Air Force Academy, wearing number 32. He became one of the most important figures in CeeDee’s development, not just as a football player but as a person.
Chester was close to his nephew. He talked to CeeDee about how to handle problems both on and off the field. He taught him that challenges were lessons. He taught him that facing difficulty directly was the only real way through it.
Chester Ramirez Jr. passed away on July 3, 2016, while working overseas. He was 42 years old. The cause was determined to be natural. CeeDee was 17.
After Chester died, CeeDee requested a gold necklace with Chester’s jersey number to wear as tribute. He has honored his uncle’s memory throughout his career. The number 32 appears in various forms in Lamb family imagery as a permanent acknowledgment of what Chester meant.
Leta lost her brother the same year CeeDee was preparing to enter his senior season of high school football. That family went through grief together while CeeDee was still building the foundation of a career that would eventually land him a nine-figure NFL contract.
The Oklahoma Years and the Draft
CeeDee played college football at the University of Oklahoma. He became a consensus All-American in 2019, one of the best wide receivers in the country. His combination of size, speed, and ability to make contested catches set him apart from almost every receiver in his draft class.
The Dallas Cowboys selected him 17th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. Both Leta and Cliff were there for the moment.
The Cowboys organization has long been one of the most high-profile franchises in American sports, surrounded by intense public scrutiny and fan pressure. Joining Dallas as a first-round pick meant CeeDee entered one of the most visible football environments in the country.
Leta watched her son step into that world. The same kid she drove to practice at six in the morning. The same kid she stayed up worrying about when money was short. He was now wearing number 88 for America’s Team with a signing bonus that exceeded the entire income she had generated across her medical career combined.
The 2024 Social Media Moment
In early 2024, Leta went viral for the wrong reasons.
The Cowboys had been struggling. Losses piled up. Frustration built across the fanbase. And Leta, like millions of Dallas Cowboys fans who express themselves on social media, posted critical comments about the team’s leadership and specifically about quarterback Dak Prescott.
The posts spread quickly. Cowboys fans and NFL media picked them up. Suddenly the mother of the team’s star receiver was at the center of a quarterback controversy.
CeeDee addressed it directly on Micah Parsons’ podcast The Edge. His response was measured and revealing: “Let’s get the elephant out of the room. I know what my mom said. I have no beef with my quarterback. I love my dawg. He knows that. I don’t talk to my mom about sports or my personal problems. She is just being a mom. She knows her son. She sees me come home mad, especially when we lose. She just voiced her opinion on Facebook.”
That quote tells you exactly what the relationship looks like. CeeDee is not annoyed with his mother. He is protective of her even while clarifying the record. He understands that she posted what she posted because she has watched him play since he was six years old, driving across Houston so he could get to practice, and losing hurts her on his behalf in a way that fans cannot manufacture.
Life in Houston Today
Leta still lives in Houston, Texas. She continues her healthcare work at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The public interest in her surged after the 2024 social media episode but she has not cultivated a public profile from it. No television appearances. No interviews. No brand deals.
CeeDee’s grandmother passed away in late September 2025. The Lamb family absorbed that loss together.
CeeDee is now one of the foundational pieces of the Dallas Cowboys franchise with a contract running through 2028. His mother is still in Houston. Still working. Still watching.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Leta Ramirez |
| Date of birth | October 1979 |
| Birthplace | Opelousas, Louisiana |
| High school | Northshore High School, Louisiana |
| Career | Medical assistant, UT Health Science Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| Children | Christian Lamb, Taribbean Ramirez, Andres, Brianna, CeeDee Lamb |
| Ex-partner | Cliff Lamb (divorced when CeeDee was 9) |
| Brother | Chester Ramirez Jr., Air Force Academy football player (d. 2016) |
| 2024 moment | Viral Facebook posts critical of Cowboys leadership |
| Current residence | Houston, Texas |
