If I told you that you could have Bijan Robinson, plus a massive defensive tackle, plus a starting WR and a starting CB--and all you have to do is use all your picks in this draft plus a fourth rounder in next years draft, would you sign up for that?

If you said yes, or are at least intrigued, then read carefully.

First, the good news. You already pulled off the most difficult part of this draft. You got your WR2 and your CB2 in exchange for your two, fifth-round picks. Done! Welcome Brandin Cooks and Stephon Gilmore.

Now comes the part where you have to get out your draft capital wallet. This is going to hurt a bit. Before I tell you the bill, keep in mind the following.

When you land Bijan, you really get two players. You get a dangerous receiver and generational talent at RB.

You solve the WR3 problem while also creating the best RB tandem in the NFL.

West coast offenses under Walsh and then Seifert featured two back sets prominently. And they threw like crazy to those backs. You just never knew when one was getting a handoff or one (or both) were going out into a route. This has a tendency to pull the safeties and linebackers in, making it easier to throw over the top on play-action.

Everybody knows this stuff. But the issue is always personnel. If you don't have two dynamic, excellent receiving backs, you can't pull this off. You're better just stocking up that WR room so you have at least three true weapons there. But Robinson and Pollard would be perfect.

They would be an absolute nightmare for defenses. You wouldn't need to worry about drafting a WR3 or a TE if you made that move. Your existing TEs will suffice and your down-roster WRs will get competition from UDFAs this summer. So that's two rounds you don't need.

For our purposes, we assume Bijan falls to pick 18 and the Detroit Lions are on the clock. They take Dallas' call and are willing to listen.

The Lions have two picks in the first round, pick 6 and pick 18.

They're pretty happy with their sixth pick and are open to picking up additional picks.

Here's the trade: Dallas gives them their first and second round pick in exchange for pick 18 and their third round pick. According to the trade chart, Dallas would still owe Detroit 65 points. So Dallas also deals their fourth round pick, worth 43 points. Now, we're just 23 points shy, so Dallas also kicks in their 2024 fifth round pick. Done. Detroit already had 2, 2nd-round picks, now they come away with five total picks in the first two rounds.

Dallas takes Bijan and then grabs a monstrous defensive tackle in the third round.

Our draft is done and we got three guaranteed starters and rotational big man to help stop the run.

Most will hate this idea, because they can't keep it in their head that Dallas already dealt two of their draft picks and came away with their WR2 and CB2.

Another reason to hate this, is if you think Dallas will eventually have to pay at TE serous money or a WR3 decent money. And I would agree, that under that circumstance, you don't do this.

If Dallas were to pull off this trade, it would commit them to a truly WC way of doing things. During Bill Walsh's tenure with the 49ers, he barely used TEs at all. He certainly didn't pay them much either. Salary caps weren't a thing back then, but it's still true. The RBs caught tons of passes, so the TEs weren't needed for much beyond blocking. Dallas would probably have to decide to just keep getting TEs on rookie deals and never pay for a second contract, the way teams are doing with RBs now.

And the most important thing they would need to do is have a special plan for Robinson. Not just throwing him the ball now and then, but making him the defacto WR3. In the new offense, he would operate more like Debo Samuel does in San Francisco. Sure, he would carry the ball more than Debo, but not so much that he was used up in his first contract. This is a key point, because you absolutely don't make this deal if you don't have a plan to keep Bijan on the team for at least two contracts. It would be insane to invest this much capital otherwise.

Anyway, there you go. An interesting thought exercise. If anyone tells you Dallas couldn't make it work to go get Bijan, now you have a means to have a pointless argument about it. Cheers!