The Dallas Cowboys, who finished with a 7-10 record, have a lot of work to do this offseason to put themselves in a position where they can actually compete with the NFC’s top teams, which naturally includes the division rival and recent Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
Naturally, Jerry Jones and new head coach Brian Schottenheimer need to fill the numerous gaps on the Dallas roster in order to accomplish this. Wide receiver is without a doubt at or close to the top of the list of the several positions the Cowboys struggle with.
Even though his 2024 campaign wasn’t nearly as successful as his First-Team All-Pro campaign the previous year, CeeDee Lamb is still a stud, of course.
Respectfully, though, it’s a problem when Jalen Tolbert is your team’s number two wide receiver with 49 receptions and 610 yards.
It’s not intended as a jab at Tolbert. Dallas selected him in the third round of the 2022 NBA Draft, and since then, he has only improved as a player. However, he is not a true WR2. Not yet, anyway.
That position was filled by Brandin Cooks, but things didn’t go as expected. And since he will soon be an unrestricted free agent, that experiment is undoubtedly over because he cannot be brought back.
Free agency and the NFL draft are the two most obvious ways the Cowboys can bolster their wide receiver room. And there will be no denying that both pools will have a wealth of talent.
However, Lamb would be paired with one of the wide receivers he shared First-Team All-Pro honors with in 2023, according to legendary Dallas running back Emmitt Smith’s alternative plan.
To make room for CeeDee Lamb, Emmitt Smith recommends that the Cowboys trade for Tyreek Hill.
The NFL’s all-time top rusher recently told The Dallas Morning News that the Cowboys should consider making a big trade with the Miami Dolphins to get Tyreek Hill.
“Maybe we need to go after Tyreek Hill,” Smith said, via the Dallas Morning News, “someone that can go down the field and give CeeDee Lamb a chance to work underneath.”
If Dallas is looking to make any sort of splash this offseason, that would certainly get it done, wouldn’t it?
Like the Cowboys, the Dolphins dealt with several injuries to high-profile players during the 2024 campaign and were viewed as one of the league’s biggest disappointments, going 8-9 to miss the playoffs for the first time in three years.
And Hill, who failed to reach the 1,000-yard mark for the first time since 2019, didn’t hide his frustration, taking himself out of the Dolphins regular-season finale against the New York Jets and then publicly saying that he was “opening the door” to a possible exit out of Miami.
He later apologized and stated he had no desire to leave the Dolphins, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Miami wouldn’t explore trading him if the right deal came along. A straight release is out of the question, as the dead cap hit would be catastrophic.
Trading Hill post-June 1 would save the Dolphins nearly $15 million of cap space, but those savings couldn’t be used until then. And even then, he’d still count $12.8 million against the cap.
As for the Cowboys, the combination of Lamb and Hill is obviously intriguing. After all, when both were First-Team All-Pro selections in 2023, the two combined for 254 receptions for 3,548 yards with 25 touchdowns. Imagine how much easier life would be for Dak Prescott.
But while Emmitt’s idea is fantastic in theory, it’s highly unlikely to come to fruition.
Even if the Dolphins were to absorb some of his monumental salary, Jones and Schottenheimer likely wouldn’t be overly enthusiastic about taking on a soon-to-be 31-year-old wideout with a big cap number and a history of hotheadedness.