How did I forget?! Now I remember watching Blood and Guts and Dorian doing his set with like 440lbs. I was like wtf is this shit! I was doing that and not a muscle on my body. Then I read in Flex where he said I'm not trying to win any medals on the deadlift. He was afraid of injuries. Ok so rowing more than that is safe where the back is possibly in a more compromised position? I still don't get it LOL. But he didn't do too badly on the back development LOL.
How are you doing your rows? For most people, the back is in a
much less compromised position while rowing, and it's also largely static. Deadlifts are dangerous when people hunch their backs while lifting very heavy weights, which can happen at almost any point in the movement. For some people (especially those with short arms) a hunched back can be practically unavoidable.
Deadlifts really aren't worth the injury risk.
Also, I don't think that there's a very good correlation between deadlift capability and muscularity just in general. They really don't do a lot to activate the lats/traps. Rowing is more obviously useful for bodybuilding.