Shortly after the Pittsburgh Steelers declined Najee Harris’ fifth-year option, a rumor circulated that the Dallas Cowboys were targeting him in a trade.

Clearly, the Steelers don’t see Harris in their future plans — otherwise, they would have picked up the option to at least buy some time in contract negotiations and gain leverage. Also, Jaylen Warren emerged as a quality running back last fall with over 1,100 yards from scrimmage, and the team signed Cordarrelle Patterson in free agency.

So, it would make sense for Pittsburgh to deal the 2021 first-round pick for future assets and the team would get a little more than $2.4 million in cap relief while taking on only about $1.7 million in dead cap, according to Over The Cap. Meanwhile, Dallas could use another running back and has roughly $5.5 million of cap space available.

Granted, NFL Network’s Jane Slater reported that the Cowboys dismissed the trade rumors as “click bait” and the team recently signed Ezekiel Elliot. However, that could be the front office trying to downplay their interest in Harris to avoid the price tag going up, and Elliot is past his prime.

The 28-year-old back (who turns 29 in July) hasn’t logged over four yards per carry nor rushed for 1,000 yards since 2021 and is coming off a season where he posted career lows in just about every statistical category. While the hype around Harris has cooled off since his rookie season, he’s still young and has been a 1,000-yard back in all three NFL seasons.

Additionally, Jerry Jones is in win-now mode and it feels like the Cowboys Super Bowl window is closing with looming contract decisions/extensions for key players like Dak Prescot, Ceedee Lamb and Micah Parsons. So, if the offense could use another runner to improve the offense, Jones would likely be willing to sacrifice some draft picks.

This feels like a ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’ situation with the Harris to Dallas trade rumors.