Winners, Losers for Packers at NFL Trade Deadline

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Another NFL trade deadline has come and gone with the Green Bay Packers not adding a veteran player. Not only was general manager Brian Gutekunst not a buyer at the deadline, he wasn’t a seller, as was the case in 2023 (Rasul Douglas to the Bills) and 2024 (Preston Smith to the Steelers).

Here are Green Bay’s winners and losers from Tuesday.

Winner: NFC North Title Hopes

The only trade made by a division team was the Chicago Bears, who landed edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka from the Browns in a late-round pick swap.

A first-round pick by the Buccaneers in 2021, he had 15 sacks and 21 tackles for losses in four seasons in Tampa Bay. With the Browns this season, he’s played 31 defensive snaps. So, he should not move the needle as the surging Bears try to chase down the Packers.

The NFC North race is impossibly tight, with Green Bay in first place at 5-2-1, the Detroit Lions and Bears at 5-3 and the Minnesota Vikings bringing up the rear at 4-4. It’s the only division in which every team is at .500 or better.

The Packers didn’t get any better, but they didn’t lose any ground, either.

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

Loser: NFC Homefield Hopes

With Week 9 complete, the Philadelphia Eagles are in first place in the NFC with a 6-2 record, followed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 6-2, the Seattle Seahawks at 6-2 and the Packers are 5-2-1.

The Eagles acquired three players in the days before the deadline in their quest to win another Super Bowl.

The biggest deal might have been for former first-round pass rusher Jaelan Phillips, who they acquired from Miami for a third-round pick. He has only three sacks this season but is 10th in PFF’s pass-rush win rate. They also landed two cornerbacks, including Jaire Alexander.

At the deadline, the Seahawks, who have won three in a row, landed speed receiver Rashid Shaheed for fourth- and fifth-round picks. He has 44 receptions for 499 yards and two touchdowns with a long of 87. He’s also an accomplished punt returner, with a 12.6-yard career average.

So, the rich just got richer, with Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold already No. 2 in the league in passer rating.

Winner: TE Josh Whyle

With Tucker Kraft bound for injured reserve after his season-ending knee injury, the Packers elected to not bolster the ranks at tight end.

That means Josh Whyle, a fifth-round pick by the Titans in the same 2023 draft class that produced Luke Musgrave in the second round, Kraft in the third round and John FitzPatrick in the sixth round, presumably will be promoted from the practice squad.

Whyle could help the offense. After catching nine passes as a rookie, he caught 28 passes for 248 yards and one touchdown (with only one drop) in 17 games (four starts) last season.

Loser: DC Jeff Hafley

Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley already got his big prize with the blockbuster trade for Micah Parsons before the start of the season. However, with Nate Hobbs down for at least a couple weeks, his secondary is precariously short of proven depth.

Keisean Nixon and Carrington will start. So long as they stay healthy, all will be fine. But there will be a lot of fingers crossed because there is no proven depth. Literally.

Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon is second in the NFL with 11 passes defensed. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The remaining cornerbacks are Kamal Hadden, a sixth-round pick by the Broncos last year who played seven snaps on special teams in two games as a rookie and five snaps on special teams in two games this year, and Bo Melton, who bucked the odds by converting from receiver to cornerback and making the roster. His only snaps this season have come on offense and special teams.

Of course, there’s only one way for an inexperienced player to become an experienced player, and that’s to play. At some point, the Packers might have to find out if either are good enough to help a championship contender.

Never mind the depth. Nobody expected the Packers to part ways with two first-round picks for Sauce Gardner, like the Colts did in their blockbuster trade with the Jets on Tuesday, but the Packers are 31st in the NFL in takeaways because their cornerbacks don’t make big plays.

Nixon in 42 career starts over seven seasons has intercepted three passes, with none this season. Valentine in 22 starts over three seasons has intercepted two passes, with none this season. Hobbs in 43 starts over five seasons has intercepted three passes, with none this season.

Coordinators and players love to say that takeaways come in bunches. Do the Packers have the type of cornerbacks capable of creating a bunch of takeaways?

Winner: Executive Vice President Russ Ball

With huge contracts paid to the likes of Jordan Love, Micah Parsons, Xavier McKinney and Aaron Banks, among others, the Packers are barely $500,000 below the projected salary cap for next season, according to OverTheCap.com.

A high-profile trade would have helped the Packers’ playoff aspirations but would have made salary-cap guru Russ Ball’s calculator burst into flames.

Loser: DL Coach DeMarcus Covington

Defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington probably wouldn’t have minded one more big guy for his unit, which has greatly exceeded expectations since sending Kenny Clark to Dallas in the Micah Parsons trade.

However, the defense was exploited when Colby Wooden exited Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury. With Wooden limited to 15 snaps, the Panthers routed the Packers for 163 rushing yards, more than double Green Bay’s season average.

The Packers will play Saquon Barkley and the Eagles on Monday night. There are two games looming against the Bears, who are second in rushing, a rematch with the Lions, who are ninth, and out-of-conference games coming up against the Ravens (sixth) and Broncos (seventh).

Winner: G Donovan Jennings

Guard Donovan Jennings, an undrafted free agent last year, made the roster coming out of training camp this season. He’s played in only one game, with seven snaps on special teams in the tie at Dallas.

Had the Packers acquired interior-line depth at the deadline, he probably would have been the odd man out.

Loser: Josh Jacobs

Through Week 9, 33 running backs have at least 75 carries. Josh Jacobs ranks 27th with 3.79 yards per carry. Why? It’s certainly not Jacobs’ fault.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) stiff-arms Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Barrett Carter (49) on Sunday. | Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Of Jacobs’ 534 rushing yards, 80.1 percent have come after contact, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s the sixth-highest percentage. Too often, Jacobs is having to dodge defenders in the backfield or plow through them to turn 1-yard gains into runs of 3 or 4 yards.

Without a lineman acquired at the deadline, it might be up to Jacobs to be a one-man running game.

Winner: S Anthony Smith

Who’s Anthony Smith? He’s the last player acquired on or near the NFL trade deadline. In 2010, the Packers landed Smith from the Jaguars in a trade for what the team media guide refers to as a “future conditional draft choice.”

Smith played in four games and recorded seven tackles as a reserve for the Packers but was placed on injured reserve two months later so was not on the field for the Super Bowl win. Whatever the conditions of the trade, they were not met and the Packers did not give up a pick.

So, because the Packers did not make a deadline trade for the 15th consecutive year, Smith retains this small piece of Packers lore.

Loser: The Locker Room

The players no doubt believe they have what it takes to make a run at the Super Bowl. But a move might have provided a bit of a jolt to a team reeling from a loss to the Panthers and the loss of their team captain.

The quiet approach was no surprise. The Packers gave up two first-round picks to land Micah Parsons and are going to be tight against the cap for the next few seasons. They also landed backup tackle Darian Kinnard for a sixth-round pick near the end of training camp. But was there no ability to add some depth with a sixth- or seventh-round pick?

If the Packers are going to get hot, it will be up to the 52 players on their roster and not an instant-impact addition.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER