Grading a Steelers-Cowboys trade to give CeeDee Lamb a new home

CeeDee Lamb needs to get paid, plain and simple. For whatever reason, the Dallas Cowboys are shamelessly dragging their feet in this. They foolishly allowed for Justin Jefferson to reset the market at the wide receiver position with his four-year, $140 million extension with the Minnesota Vikings. While I don't think Lamb is worth $35 million annually, somebody is going to pay him close to that.

Because the Cowboys are in an absolutely atrocious position when it comes to extending their stars, they may just cut bait with Lamb way too prematurely. One team that is in need of a bona-fide No. 1 wide receiver is the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was one of the few teams Brad Gagnon on Bleacher Report tied Lamb to in a series of offseason trades. This is not the easiest of trades to pull off in the slightest.

Here is what the trade Gagnon proposed looked like. Could this be enough to entice the Cowboys?

From an APY perspective, this deal doesn't work because the Cowboys will have taken on a surplus of over $4 million in assets. The complicating factor is Lamb has yet to be extended, as he only pulls in a shade over $3.5 million in terms of APY for 2024. While I like the idea of Pickens going the other way as part of the trade package, it is so incredibly difficult to bake into the equation a new deal for Lamb.

Let's discuss if Gagnon's trade is good enough to merit Dallas pivoting off Lamb this offseason.

How Pittsburgh Steelers trade for Dallas Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb

We know that Lamb is grossly undervalued at roughly $3.5 million annually. If we were to assume that the Cowboys were to do their damnedest and drag this thing out into free agency, they could always use the franchise tag on him. That would be slightly more than $28.8 million for the 2025 NFL season. That number is the average of the top five salaries at the position, which is only going to be going up.

The big question is if Pittsburgh is willing to spend close to $30 million in assets to take on Lamb's future salary. For that to work, we are going to need more than just Pickens and a second-round pick. We are talking maybe another player, as well as two or three more picks. I think since Pittsburgh would be the ones extending Lamb in this case, they may not have to pay as high of a premium here.

Overall, I think the only way the Cowboys do this trade is if they plan on giving Dak Prescott the bank and firmly believe that Pickens can be a better player for them, for the money. With Lamb's current salary, a fourth-round pick in 2025 makes it about even, but we all know the Cowboys are going to want to command way more than that. Thus, I don't hate the proposed deal, but it can be way better.

The future projections of talent and all the financial math makes this trade so incredibly complicated.

CeeDee Lamb Trade Grade: B