Winners and Losers as Packers’ Long NFL Trade Deadline Streak Continues

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The streak goes on.

The Green Bay Packers haven’t been buyers at the trade deadline since the Super Bowl season of 2010. While there were reasons to believe it might be different this year, general manager Brian Gutekunst once again saw a good team and believed it was good enough.

Here are the winners and losers from a trade deadline (presumably) filled with talk but, once again, no action.

Winner: Russ Ball’s Salary Cap

There was one good reason for general manager Brian Gutekunst to not make a trade. The team is tight against the salary cap, with the outlook not being especially better next season. Good teams are filled with good players; good players make a lot of money (or will make a lot of money).

So, that Gutekunst didn’t try to shoehorn a high-priced veteran onto the roster was probably good news for Russ Ball, who would have had to tie himself into about a dozen pretzels to make it fit for the rest of 2026 and beyond.

Green Bay Packers Salary Cap Update: 11/08/2026

🚨Trade Deadline Edition!!🚨

Salary Cap:
💰Current: $6.03m
💵Effective: $4.31m

Roster: 83
🏈Active: 53/53
📋Practice: 16/17
🩹Injured: 12
🩼PUP: 2

Meaningful Restructures Available:
🔄Jordan Love: $3.44m
-end of list- pic.twitter.com/jQAsawPqXL
— Ken - Packers Cap (@KenIngalls) November 8, 2026

Loser: QB Jordan Love

Aaron Rodgers can probably feel Jordan Love’s pain.

For more than a decade after winning the Super Bowl, Rodgers slipped on Superman’s cape and did everything humanly possible to lead the team into a good spot in the playoff race at the trade deadline, only for the general manager – either Ted Thompson or Brian Gutekunst – to not make that one final move to perhaps push the Packers over the top.

The Packers are 6-3 through nine games due in large part to the superhuman play of Love. No Micah Parsons? Too many dropped passes? No running game? A leaky offensive line? Too many penalties?

Love has overcome it all.

Now, he’ll have to overcome a general manager who didn’t follow in the footsteps of the men in charge of the Seahawks, Bears, 49ers and Vikings.

Winner: No Collateral Damage

Adding a player in a trade would have meant a player losing his spot on the roster.

So, the Packers didn’t trade for a defensive tackle. That’s good news for Anthony Campbell or Jonathan Ford. The Packers didn’t add a running back. That’s good news for Kaleb Johnson or Pierre Strong. The Packers didn’t add a receiver. That’s good news for J. Michael Sturdivant. Even with a wave of injuries, the Packers didn’t add a linebacker. That’s good news for Kristian Welch. Ditto for tight end and the offensive line.

Loser: DC Jonathan Gannon

This one has nothing to do with the lack of roster moves made by Brian Gutekunst. Instead, the Vikings traded a third-round pick to the Raiders to acquire Kirk Cousins.

Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon no doubt would have loved to face Carson Wentz or Max Brosmer, the two quarterbacks who were showered with boos as the Vikings were demolished by the Bills on Monday night. Instead, he’ll almost certainly have to face Cousins, who is on pace to throw for 4,420 yards and 38 touchdowns after a productive half-season with the Raiders.

“You need to have a plan ready to go for anybody that they put out there,” Gannon said before the trade was made public.

Winner: RB Kaleb Johnson

Kaleb Johnson had a breakout performance last week against the Patriots. With Josh Jacobs out after suffering a broken finger, Johnson carried the ball 14 times for 68 yards. The Packers were averaging less than 61 rushing yards per game entering the game.

“I was excited about him coming into the game,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said on Tuesday. “He had some really nice practices leading up to the game and he ran hard. That was the good thing about it. That's what we've been challenging him, is he's a big, physical, fast guy. Just run hard. Run angry. And I thought he did a nice job with that, for sure.”

The Colts did not trade Jonathan Taylor and the Titans did not trade Tony Pollard. Had the Packers acquired either, Johnson almost certainly would have been one of the odd men out in the backfield. Instead, with Jacobs out for at least a couple games, Johnson will have a chance to be the top back for the short term and perhaps earn a key role for the stretch run.

Loser: Super Bowl Chances

The Seahawks traded for receiver/returner Rashid Shaheen at the trade deadline last year, and he became a key player in their run to a Super Bowl championship.

Before this year’s trade deadline, the Seahawks traded for All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson. The 49ers traded for veteran defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. The Bears traded for All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. The 49ers doubled down with aging receiver Keenan Allen. The Vikings made their big move at quarterback with Kirk Cousins.

The Packers?

Well, they did nothing. No starters were added. No depth pieces were acquired. Nothing. Now as always, help is not on the way.

Winner: GM Brian Gutekunst and All Who Love the Draft

The Packers don’t have a first-round pick due to the Micah Parsons trade. Because they didn’t make a trade, they’ll at least have their second- and third-round picks, plus their projected four compensatory picks as well as the fourth-round pick from the Rashan Gary trade.

(As an aside, OverTheCap.com is projecting the Packers will go from a third-round pick for quarterback Malik Willis and a fourth-round pick for receiver Romeo Doubs to a fourth-round pick for Willis and a fifth-round pick for Doubs because they are on injured reserve. Compensatory picks are awarded based mostly on salary but also on playing time.)

The 2027 draft class is supposed to be loaded. Gutekunst will have his full arsenal of picks (other than the first round) to add some young, cheap talent to a top-heavy roster.

Loser: The Locker Room

There’s no word to describe what last year’s trade for Micah Parsons meant to the locker room. Excited, fired up – none of that fits the jolt that trade provided to the rest of the players on the roster.

No trade made on Tuesday would have had that visceral impact. And it’s not as if the players are pouting that no trades were made at the deadline.

Still, Green Bay’s players – especially the veteran players – understand what happened over the last week. The Seahawks added a Hall of Fame lineman. The Bears added a potential Hall of Fame defensive lineman. The 49ers made two trades. The Vikings did what they had to at quarterback.

And their boss did nothing. Getting to and winning the Super Bowl is incredibly hard. Seahawks general manager John Schneider was aggressive, as always, in his quest to go back-to-back. Bears general manager Ryan Poles had built the best roster in the NFC North, then added a true game-wrecker. 49ers general manager John Lynch’s team had the best record in the NFC, then added two useful veterans.

If you’re a member of the Packers, it would be hard not to reflect on what happened this week and not think the Lombardi Trophy got just a bit further out of reach.

It will be Jordan Love vs. Kirk Cousins on Sunday.

Well, actually, it will be Jordan Love vs. Brian Flores.@JacobWestendorf has the Packers-Vikings matchups. ⬇️https://t.co/hRHnutzkns
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 10, 2026

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER

Add us as a preferred source on Google