Trade speculation in the offseason is often unfounded. Dallas Cowboys star receiver CeeDee Lamb was not at the team’s mandatory minicamp because he is seeking a contract extension. That spurred trade rumors, some of which involved the Green Bay Packers. On Bleacher Report, Brad Gagnon offered a unique trade idea for the Packers to land CeeDee Lamb.
The proposed trade
Green Bay Packers: CeeDee Lamb
Dallas Cowboys: Romeo Doubs or Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and a second-round pick
Gagnon then had this to say as his justification for the deal.
The Green Bay Packers have a lot of good, though not great or well-established receivers. But in a huge year for Jordan Love and Co., the team might want to go bold with Lamb and sacrifice two of them because they’ve established the depth necessary to afford that swap.
Essentially, they have become top-heavy.
In this case, we’re presenting the idea of Dallas landing one primary slot guy to more directly replace Lamb (Jayden Reed) along with one of two talented but generally disappointing outside figures.
All come cheap right now, and the Cowboys would be foolish to turn away from them as well as some Day 2 draft capital ahead of such an odd-looking season.
Gagnon concludes by arguing that the Cowboys would be foolish to turn away the cheap Packers receivers. Dallas would be foolish to do so, but so would the Packers for making this deal.
Lamb is a fantastic player, there is no denying that. The star wideout has recorded three consecutive seasons of over 1,000 yards. Last season, he hauled in 135 receptions to lead the league en route to being named a First Team All-Pro.
Lamb is going to want to get paid. The Minnesota Vikings just signed Justin Jefferson to a four-year, $140 million extension, the largest non-quarterback deal in NFL history. The extension will pay him $35 million annually. Lamb will undoubtedly command similar money.
That means the Packers would be shipping out two of their premier young wide receivers and a premium draft asset to acquire the rights to pay a good receiver $35 million.
Nope, not for me (and not for the Packers’ front office).
First, the Packers probably can’t afford that. Green Bay must pay two of their young stars soon. Jordan Love needs a new contract, and they’re going to pay him handsomely.
Green Bay’s QB1 also has no issues with not having a No. 1 wideout or primary pass-catching option. The Packers project to split pretty evenly among all four of their dynamic young wide receivers. Romeo Doubs, Chrisitan Watson, Dontayvion Wicks, and Jayden Reed will touch the ball. The guy with the hot hand may get more touches in any given game, but none of those guys stand out as significantly better than the rest.
“I think you don’t have to have a No. 1 receiver,” Love said. “I think it works out well when you can spread the ball out, and you got different guys making different plays, and you can put ’em in different areas. … I think it puts a lot more stress on the defense and the calls that they can get in, so I think in the long run it helps us not having a No. 1 guy, a true No. 1 guy, but I think all those guys can step up and be the one any given day.”
Watson or Reed could most likely step up and become the de facto No. 1 guy on the Green Bay offense. Currently, though, it helps that the Packers have depth.
Love continued:
You can plug any of these guys at any position, and they’ll go out there and make plays. I think a little of that was proven last year. We had different guys injured throughout the season, and guys had to move around a little bit [and] play some different spots that they might not have been used to, so I definitely think that is the case. But you look at these guys, each person has their own skillset and what they do great. That’s the key, is trying to find that and put them in the best position to be successful.
While Lamb is a tremendous player, it doesn’t make sense for Green Bay to trade its young, cheap, and effective depth for one expensive outside option. The Packers have internal players they have to pay, and a strength of their offense is the ability to have guys who can play various roles and thrive.
All stats and data via Football Reference unless otherwise noted.
