Should the Steelers trade for Dexter Lawrence?

Well, yeah... but the board wants a whole team of 25 year old All-Pro's on team friendly contracts that are well under market value lol

The reality is, if you want to win you have to have a good balance of young talent and quality vets. Lawrence would be a good get (and maybe a chance to offload TJ Watt?). A guy that is going to turn 29 that has been a high quality player for a long time isn't a terrible option. Yeah, he wasn't great last year statistically... but you'd be buying low on him. Extend him for a year and you'd have him through his 31 year old season and could spread the cap hit out nicely. It wouldn't be the worst thing we could do.

 

They are just polar opposite as players. Lawrence is a solid run defender and a high end interior pass rusher. Even with the down year he averages 5 sacks per 17 game season. McDonald projects as a guy that you hope is an elite run defender, but he's going to be lucky to have 5 total sacks on his rookie deal, let alone a single season.

I guess the question is do you think he's now a 0.5 sack a season guy every season? Was it a down year or a new normal? If its new normal, they yes... McDonald has a good chance to develop into the player Lawrence was in 2025. However, if Lawrence returns to what he was before then its a great get because McDonald has zero chance to be the guy Lawrence was in 2024. I wouldn't hate it if we made the move, depending on the package. I think he would do well in our front 7 and it would definitely be a good upgrade for the next 3-4 years. I also don't expect us to make the move.