Five Potential Packers Targets Ahead of NFL Trade Deadline

The NFL trade deadline will strike at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Will the Green Bay Packers make a trade to bolster their championship hopes?

The Packers have not acquired a veteran at the deadline since making a minor move for safety Anthony Smith in 2010. Former coach Mike McCarthy once joked that he not know when the deadline was, which led to a chorus of laughs.

Great moments in NFL trade deadline history. pic.twitter.com/PBe5CeEZob
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 4, 2025

They’ve been connected to players. Brian Gutekunst has stated he wants to be in every conversation in terms of acquiring a player.

However, Gutekunst has made deals to send players away at the deadline each of the last two years.
Last year, he dealt Preston Smith to Pittsburgh for a seventh-round pick. In 2024, he sent cornerback Rasul Douglas to Buffalo for what turned into a third-round pick.

Selling is likely not an option this year. There are not any obvious players that are miscast like Smith was, and they lead their division with a 5-2-1 record.

Buying?

That could be another story.

Before you laugh and insist the Packers never make moves like that, the Packers also never made big trades like the one Gutekunst made for Micah Parsons before the season began. He also would never draft a receiver in the first round until he grabbed Matthew Golden.

Things never happen, until they do.

With that in mind, with the help of PFF, and ESPN, here are some players the Packers could acquire at the trade deadline.

DL Calais Campbell

The Packers were listed as a suitor for Calais Campbell in PFF’s trade deadline story.

Defensive tackle is a potential point of attrition on Green Bay’s roster, and that has been true since the day they acquired Micah Parsons. They’ve only kept four defensive linemen active on gameday throughout the season.

A concern coming into the year was that the Packers would struggle to stop opposing ground games, and that finally reared its ugly head in Sunday’s 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Rico Dowdle ran around, over and through Green Bay’s hapless defense, which began to show cracks against Pittsburgh the week prior.

Is that the start of a trend? The Packers could find out soon enough with Saquon Barkley set to visit Lambeau Field on Monday night.

Campbell is a veteran trying to squeeze out every last bit of good football that is in his body, but he is still an effective player. He has 11 pressures this year, according to PFF, and still can slow down opposing ground games. He showed his prowess against the run against the Packers a couple weeks ago.

“It’s pretty impressive,” coach Matt LaFleur said before that game. “Kind of reminds me of in terms of a guy that's been doing a long time, like Marcedes (Lewis). He’s had some very disruptive plays this year, drew that holding penalty in the endzone versus the Niners that led to a safety. He’s an impressive guy. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

More importantly, the loss of Tucker Kraft on offense takes away some of the team’s grit and toughness. Who is the enforcer that will stand tall when the going gets tough? Campbell could be one of those players with the attitude to combat some of the physical offenses the Packers hope to stand up against later in the year.

CB Alontae Taylor

The Packers’ need at cornerback has become exasperated thanks to disappointing play and injuries, with with an MCL sprain.

Hobbs lost his starting job due to poor play, which is related to the knee injury. He missed almost all of training camp along with Week 1 following surgery on the other knee.

The Saints’ Alontae Taylor is a cornerback who is stuck on a bad team and playing on an expiring contract.

That could cause the Saints, who fell to 1-8 and are looking to build their 2026 team more so than trying to compete this year, to move Taylor in favor of some younger players on the back of the roster.

If Taylor’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he played arguably the best game of his career against Green Bay in Jordan Love’s first career start at Lambeau Field. Taylor had five pass breakups, five solo tackles and one sack.

His size would allow him to play the boundary, where the Packers need help both in quality and quantity.

Taylor has two career interceptions – both in 2023. This season, according to PFF, he has allowed five touchdowns and a 126.1 passer rating.

CB Rasul Douglas

In 2021, the Packers signed Rasul Douglas off the Cardinals’ practice squad. Ultimately, he helped replace Jaire Alexander, who missed most of the season with a shoulder injury, and helped the Packers earn the No. 1 seed.

Douglas parlayed a strong performance, including two pick-sixes that season, into a three-year contract in the offseason. The Packers traded him to Buffalo in 2023.

Today in 2021:

"Arizona at the Green Bay 5. Packers leading by three....Snap to Murray. Looks, throws right side to the endzone. Intercepted! And the Packers get the dagger from the former Arizona Cardinal, Rasul Douglas!"

-- @waynelarrivee
pic.twitter.com/C60bFrmJAg
— Packers History (@HistoricPackers) October 28, 2025

He sat on the free agent market all offseason and the Packers did not bring him in for a visit or show any interest.

With the situation at cornerback looking different now than it did in the offseason, could Gutekunst call on an old friend again?

The Dolphins are awful, and just traded away outside linebacker Jaelen Phillips to the Philadelphia Eagles. They’re looking to build up a war chest of draft picks for what should be a lengthy rebuild.

Douglas can play on the boundary and has a playmaking history. Perhaps just as importantly, he has a winning personality and a burning desire to win.

TE Michael Mayer

With Tucker Kraft down for the season with a torn ACL, the Packers are not going to be able to replace him with just one player.

Could they try to rebuild him in the aggregate?

Michael Mayer was as the deadline approaches, and the Packers did host him for a visit before the 2023 draft.

Mayer was supposed to be the Raiders’ tight end of the future but was displaced when they selected Brock Bowers in the first round in 2024.

Luke Musgrave is the next man up at tight end, and he offers some ability to stretch the field in the passing game. Blocking? That’s a different story.

Mayer was a good blocker at Notre Dame, and that was likely the trait that had the Packers interested in 2023. He’s caught 63 passes for 593 yards and three touchdowns in his career, including 15 catches this year.

If the Raiders were willing to deal him, he’s young, has his best football ahead of him and may not cost that much in terms of draft compensation. It’s a shrewd move that could be right up Brian Gutekunst’s alley.

OL Jackson Powers-Johnson

Speaking of shrewd moves that Gutekunst could look into, could he find a way to fill a hole for 2025 that also answers a question for 2026?

SI’s Albert Breer reported the Raiders were taking calls on Jackson Powers-Johnson. Powers-Johnson, a second-round pick in 2024, has been miscast in Las Vegas as a guard, but was one of the top center prospects in his draft class.

The Packers’ interior offensive line has been a mess. Whether injuries, inconsistent play or some combination of the two, they are not good enough up front.

Powers-Johnson could be a potential upgrade to Jordan Morgan or Sean Rhyan at right guard for the immediate future if the Packers did not want to install a new center at the midway point of the season.

For the future, Powers-Johnson would be a plug-and-play replacement for Elgton Jenkins at center. Jenkins, a Pro Bowler guard, has struggled to acclimate at center and could be a salary-cap casualty at the end of the season.

Powers-Johnson has the size the Packers have leaned toward for their interior starting last offseason standing at 6-foot-3 and 325 pounds.

It may not be a fun move. Neither is eating your vegetables.

Sometimes, eating your vegetables is what is best for you.

Bonus: CB Asante Samuel Jr

This isn’t a trade acquisition, but a potential intriguing free agent.

Asante Samuel Jr. was just cleared to play after a spinal fusion surgery that caused him to miss the last 13 months of football.

Assuming the Packers are comfortable with his health, he’d be an intriguing addition that will cost nothing but money.

Samuel Jr. is the son of former New England Patriot and Philadelphia Eagles Asante Samuel, who picked off 51 interceptions in his career. His son is not that prolific at taking the ball away, but he would add some much-needed ball skills to Green Bay’s secondary.

Samuel Jr. has six interceptions in 50 games in a four-year career. Green Bay’s cornerback group has zero interceptions this year, and its primary quartet of Carrington Valentine, Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Javon Bullard have eight interceptions combined in their careers.

Whether the Packers will be interested or not remains to be seen.

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