Packers Could Hit Up Matt LaFleur’s Brother With Trade to Fill Key Need

The Green Bay Packers are in wait-and-see mode at running back.

Josh Jacobs will be the obvious starter for 2026, but then what? After not re-signing Emanuel Wilson, that is an important question that general manager Brian Gutekunst must figure out after he chose not to draft a running back last weekend.

In 2024, the same year the Packers signed Jacobs to a four-year contract in free agency, they drafted MarShawn Lloyd with a third-round pick. In two seasons, he’s played in one game. It would be a fool’s errand to put too many eggs into the basket of a player who’s spent most of his two seasons with the team riding a stationary bike in the corner of the Don Hutson Center.

Because of Lloyd’s inability to get on the field – let alone stay on the field – Chris Brooks is in line to be the No. 2 running back. An excellent pass-protecting role player the last couple seasons, Brooks in three NFL seasons has carried the ball 82 times.

The depth chart is rounded out by Pierre Strong, a fourth-round pick by the Patriots in 2022 who has 99 career carries and didn’t play in a game last season, Damien Martinez, a seventh-round pick by the Seahawks in 2025 who didn’t play in a game as a rookie, and Jaden Nixon, an undrafted free agent.

Strong spent last season on Green Bay’s practice squad and Martinez was signed to the practice squad late in the season.

“He looks like he’s in great shape, and we’re hopeful that he can put his best stuff out there,” LaFleur said of Lloyd after the draft. “Certainly, talent’s never been an issue for him, and we’ve got some other guys that we feel good about, as well. I think that’s going to be one that we’ll monitor throughout the course of the offseason.”

If the monitoring leads to the conclusion that the team needs to add a running back, maybe Gutekunst could pester LaFleur’s brother.

Hey, Mike, Can You Spare a Back?

While the Packers are trying to navigate kiddie-pool depth in the backfield, the Arizona Cardinals’ depth chart is akin to the Marinara Trench.

This offseason, the Cardinals used the third overall pick on Notre Dame phenom Jeremiyah Love and signed powerful Tyler Allgeier in free agency. They were added to productive veteran James Conner and Trey Benson, who was drafted before Lloyd in the third round in 2024.

Unless he plans on going old-school Oklahoma Sooners wishbone, that’s too many quality backs for new Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur to keep happy, so general manager Monti Ossenfort presumably will be looking to make a deal.

Arizona Cardinals running back Trey Benson (33) runs for a first down against Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Packers, who are scheduled to have 11 draft picks in 2027, have plenty of ammo to make a deal should Gutekunst eventually deem it necessary.

Conner, who will turn 31 next week, has rushed for 6,065 yards and caught 289 passes in nine seasons. Conner missed most of last season with a foot injury but has a strong track record that includes 1,040 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in 2023 and 1,094 rushing yards and eight touchdowns in 2024. From 2020 through 2024, he rushed for more than 720 yards each season with a total of 50 touchdowns. He had at least 34 receptions in six of seven seasons.

“Conner, he’s a beast,” Matt LaFleur said before the 2024 matchup. “He’s a big, physical back that is more elusive than he leads on just in terms of (being) a bigger guy.”

Benson will turn only 24 at the start of training camp. He’s been a disappointment so far with 451 rushing yards in 17 career games. He missed most of last season with a foot injury.

However, he’s a big-play threat with his 4.39 in the 40 before the 2024 draft. That showed up with his career average of 4.9 yards per carry with the Cardinals, no different than his 6.1-yard average at Florida State.

James Conner or Trey Benson?

Both players fit the Packers’ mold. Conner is 6-foot-1 and 233 pounds and Benson is 6-foot and 220 pounds.

Both players would be affordable. Conner, who would potentially be a one-year rental, is set to earn a $2.355 million base salary with $510,000 in per-game roster bonuses during the final season of his contract. In early March, he agreed to a restructured deal that included a reduced base salary in exchange for guaranteed money. The revised deal presumably cleared the way for Conner to stay in Arizona but now makes his contract easier to be traded following the selection of Love.

Benson has two more years left on his rookie deal. He is due base salaries of about $1.346 million in 2026 and $1.621 million in 2027.

The Green Bay Way would be to focus on Benson, who is younger, less expensive and more explosive. However, he missed the 2020 season at Oregon with a torn ACL, missed four games as a rookie in 2024 with an ankle injury and then final 13 games of last season with a meniscus injury that required surgery and didn’t heal quickly enough to get him back on the field.

Between the two, a executive not affiliated with either team said Benson is the player he would target. A Day 3 pick-swap might get it done, he said.

The Packers presumably are in no hurry to add anyone to the backfield. They’d like to see how their young backs will progress. The Cardinals seem to be in no hurry, either.

“There’s no question that it’s a good room,” Ossenfort said after the draft. “I think as with anything else the competition will take care of itself, so that will be for Mike and his staff to sort out. But it’s a good problem to have.”

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