Cowboys Trade for Chase Claypool or DJ Moore? A Better WR Idea for Dallas
FRISCO - Going into NFL Week 6, the Dallas Cowboys could've been as justified to have been thought of as "buyers'' before the Nov. 1 trade deadline as the Pittsburgh Steelers could've been thought of as "sellers.''
Did the weekend's games change any of that?
There is a lingering perception that Dallas needs to trade for another wide receiver, and in terms of what the audience thinks, a Steelers wideout is a match.
It is along those lines that Bleacher Report recently suggested that Dallas pursue Chase Claypool. B/R's thinking?
“The Pittsburgh Steelers could be another seller at the deadline after a dreadful 1-4 start,” B/R wrote. “The Cowboys could offer a fresh start in a better situation to the young receiver. He could be the physical, possession receiver to complement the speedy Michael Gallup and shifty CeeDee Lamb. That would make the offense scary to opposing secondaries again.”
B/R has at least one thing right there: Claypool, selected by the Steelers in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, is 6-4 and 238. So "physical'' is accurate.
What about his other numbers? The argument going into the weekend is that those numbers are shrinking. Of course, things change.
Claypool as a rookie: 62 receptions for 873 and nine touchdowns.
In Year 2? He ended up catching 59 passes for 860 yards and two touchdowns.
Going into Week 6? Claypool had 16 catches for just 129 yards. But then ... on Sunday he helped the Steelers beat Tom Brady's Buccaneers, 20-18, Claypool finishing with seven catches for 96 yards and the game-winning touchdown.
And suddenly, the Steelers aren't a one-win team anymore. ... and Claypool - if the Steelers figure out their QB play - is likely to stay on there, playing on a cheap rookie contract, with no reason to "trade him for a fourth-round pick,'' as B/R suggests.
And what about Dallas' position here? Despite starting QB Dak Prescott missing five games with a fractured thumb (and with a hope to return this week) the Cowboys are 4-2 with backup QB Cooper Rush. ... and with Noah Brown being the No. 3 option and serving in the role of that "physical'' receiver.
Brown has 20 catches at 14 yards per with a TD. ... and is admired inside The Star for being a "pro's pro.'' Said coach Mike McCarthy not long ago, "Noah’s a stud. He’s so competitive. Just the offseason he had, obviously the anticipation of the opportunity that he was going to have this year. Now you’re just seeing the payoff of it.”
Add up Lamb, Gallup and Brown, and the Cowboys don't really see the hole in the wideout room that others see. Eventually add to the mix rehabbing James Washington, himself a former Steeler, and rookie Jalen Tolbert (coming along a bit slowly), and the Cowboys have more reason to sit tight.
Our opinion is that Dallas does not need to overspent for a top-of-the-rotation receiver; the Cowboys need Lamb to be that. (And once Prescott is back, we bet Lamb will be that.) Nor do they need a pricy add like DJ Moore of the Panthers, who is the subject of trade gossip while making $17 million APY.
We will stick with our belief that Dallas should give in to the request of the Jets and send a conditional 2024 seventh-round pick to the New York Jets in exchange for wide receiver Denzel Mims, the 6-3, 207-pound Baylor product who was a second-round pick in New York now stuck in mothballs, without even getting a chance to dirty his uniform on Sundays.
As CowboysSI.com reported at the start of the season, the Cowboys made that call. It has been reported that the Jets were asking for a fourth-round draft pick in exchange for Mims. And that is not exactly true. Sources told us that New York asked for a conditional fifth-round pick that would elevate to a fourth should Mims gain 500 yards receiving with his new team.
Calling the Jets is the right play here. At some point, the Jets might as well fold and take an even later-round pick, and at no time, barring injury, are the Cowboys going to think they have a huge hole at the position that requires over-spending.
There is not an obvious need at The Star for a third receiver; the solution to improving Dallas' passing attack comes with the return of Prescott. But there is an obvious desire to always getting at least incrementally better. And that's not about a Claypool or Moore blockbuster; there is logic in that being about a Mims-level prospect.
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