Green Bay Packers at Today’s NFL Trade Deadline: Buy or Sell?
GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2019, 2020 and 2021, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst had built championship-contending teams. With the Packers rolling to one win after another at those trade deadlines, he examined the available options at positions of need but didn’t make a move.
In 2022, a team that was built to win a championship stumbled out of the gate with a 3-5 record. Even with Aaron Rodgers coming off back-to-back MVP seasons, the Packers were 26th in scoring. With the window of opportunity slamming shut, Gutekunst went window shopping but didn’t make a deal.
In 2023, a team that was supposed to be a work in progress is failing to progress. The Packers are 2-5 and have lost four in a row.
If Gutekunst wasn’t a buyer at the previous four trade deadlines, there’s no reason whatsoever to be a buyer at this trade deadline.
The 2023 season has always been about the Great Reset. See what you’ve got in Jordan Love. Hope a bunch of young receivers can grow alongside the young quarterback. Start paying off the debt on the salary-cap credit card. And then, with a more experienced quarterback throwing to more experienced receivers and with some financial breathing room, start building the next championship-contending team.
Gutekunst, outside of some couch-cushion change used at safety and to supplement the special teams, didn’t spend in free agency. So, why on earth would he want to burn valuable draft capital before Tuesday’s trade deadline?
The Packers are not a good team. Losses to the Raiders (after the mini-bye), Broncos (after the full bye) and the Vikings (after they played San Francisco on Monday) emphatically drove home that point. Acquiring a receiver or an offensive lineman at the trade deadline isn’t going to suddenly make the Packers a good team.
To be sure, Green Bay’s ridiculously young receiver corps has been an enormous disappointment. Christian Watson’s only big play came on a busted coverage. Aside from that 77-yarder at Las Vegas, he’s caught 10-of-23 targets for 99 yards in four games. Romeo Doubs has caught 7-of-18 targets for 52 yards the last three games.
The only receiver who’s made more than the sporadic play has been rookie Jayden Reed, but his mental errors and drops have been costly. Rookie Dontayvion Wicks had a brutal drop near the goal line. Samori Toure has five receptions in seven games.
Would a veteran receiver help? Obviously, yes.
Broncos WR Courtland Sutton vs. the Packers in 2019.
Photo by Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports Images
You know what would help more than a veteran receiver acquired on Tuesday? A veteran receiver acquired (or re-signed) in free agency in March.
Let’s say the Packers on Tuesday made a trade for DeAndre Hopkins or Jerry Jeudy or Cortland Sutton – three receivers referenced in a trade-deadline story by The Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein. He would have to learn the offense. He’d have to get on the same page with Love. The whole growth process would have to start over.
And for what? Is Hopkins or Jeudy or tight end Darren Waller such a needle-mover that the Packers would finish the regular season by winning seven of their final 10 games to finish 9-8 to grab the final wild-card berth in the NFC?
That’s what Chase Claypool did for the Bears last year. Oh, wait, no he didn’t. The Bears beat out the Packers for Claypool. For a second-round pick, Claypool caught 18 passes in 10 games and was shipped to Miami in a late-round pick swap.
Jeudy or no Jeudy, this team isn’t going anywhere.
You know what?
That’s OK.
Struggles were the expectation. There’s a reason why they’re called growing pains. It’s because they’re painful.
The problem is there’s been little progress. Maybe none at all.
Fine.
If Love isn’t good enough, draft his replacement. If Doubs or Watson aren’t good enough, do something silly like use a first-round pick on a receiver. That seemed to work for the Vikings with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
Going young, and letting the young receivers experience all there is to experience alongside the young quarterback, has been the plan. Crumpling up the plan and changing course after seven games would be stupid.
The last thing the Packers need is a Band-Aid. Sink or swim with what you’ve got. If everyone has drowned by December, then it’s time to dive back into the pool.
Preston Smith has been a steady player for four-plus seasons.
Photo by Tork Mason/USA Today Sports Images
If anything, Gutekunst should be in selling mode.
Outside linebacker Preston Smith has reminded everyone the last two games that he’s a quality performer. Surely, some contending team could use a three-down player capable of rushing the passer and setting the edge. So, trade the 30-year-old Smith and give first-round pick Lukas Van Ness an additional 20 snaps per game to accelerate his development. Give undrafted rookie Brenton Cox a chance.
After missing three games, linebacker De’Vondre Campbell returned to record 14 tackles and help limit the Vikings to 2.0 yards per carry. Surely, some team could use a three-down linebacker. So, trade the 30-year-old Campbell and go with Isaiah McDuffie, who played well in Campbell’s absence.
Certainly, trading Smith and/or Campbell would be a step back for the 2023 team, and the salary-cap savings would be rather trivial. But, so long as the compensation matches the talent, the Packers have a lot of holes that a couple more draft picks could help fill.
It’s been a long, long time since the Packers were looking at being irrelevant in December. However, this season has never been about this season. It’s been about setting the stage for coming seasons. That would be a tough pill to swallow for the likes of Aaron Jones and Rasul Douglas, two of the team's proud veterans, but the NFL is a tough business. The “G” is the only thing that matters.
So, go with Love, Watson, Doubs, Reed and Luke Musgrave, get appropriate compensation for whatever veterans are coveted in the trade market, and go full speed ahead into the future.
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