Green Bay Packers at the NFL Trade Deadline: Should You Buy or Sell?
The NFL trading deadline is Tuesday. Is it time for Green Bay Packers GM Brian gutekunst to make a move?
Brian Gutekunst, general manager of the Green Bay Packers, had built championship-caliber teams in 2019, 2020, and 2021. As the Packers rolled to one victory after another at the trade deadline in those years, he shopped for players at positions of need, but made no moves.
In the inaugural season of 2022, the team that was supposed to win a championship started 3-5. Aaron Rodgers, coming off two MVPs in a row, was 26th in the NFL in scoring. The window of opportunity closed, and Gutekunst shopped.
So, here we are in 2023 and a team that looked like a work in progress isn’t making much progress. The Packers have dropped four in a row and are 2-5. If Gutekunst hasn’t been a buyer at any of the past four trade deadlines, he certainly won’t be one at this one.
This has always been the year of the Great Reset. You see what you have in Jordan Love, you hope a handful of young receivers can develop alongside the young quarterback, and you start to pay off that salary cap credit card debt. Then, with a more talented quarterback throwing to more talented receivers and some financial flexibility, you start to build the next championship-caliber team.
In the meantime, Gutekunst hasn’t done much in free agency aside from making some changes at safety and to shore up the special teams. So why would he want to waste valuable draft capital ahead of Tuesday’s deadline?
The Packers aren’t a good team. Losing to the Raiders (post-mini-bye), the Denver Broncos (post-bye) and the Minnesota Vikings (post-San Francisco on Monday) made that perfectly clear. Acquiring a wide receiver or offensive lineman at the deadline doesn’t magically turn the Packers into a good team.
Of course, Green Bay’s young receiver group has been a huge disappointment. Christian Watson’s only catch came on a blundering coverage. Outside of that 77-yard reception at Las Vegas, though, he’s caught 10 of 23 targets for 99 yards over the past four weeks. Romeo Doubs is catching 7 of 18 targets for 52 yards over the past three games. The only receiver who’s done more than sporadically catch passes has been the rookie Jayden Reed. But his mental mistakes and dropped passes have been costly. Wicks dropped one near the goal line, and Toure has five catches in seven games.
Do you know what would have helped the Packers more than acquiring a veteran receiver on Tuesday? Acquiring a veteran receiver in free agency or re-signing a veteran receiver in March.
Let’s say the Packers made a trade on Tuesday for one of the receivers mentioned in a trade deadline story from The Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein:
DeAndre Hopkins.
Jerry Jeudy.
Cortland Sutton.
All three receivers mentioned in Silverstein’s trade deadline story.
So, what would have happened?
He would have had to relearn the offense. He would have had to learn how to communicate with Love. The whole growth cycle would have had to start all over again.
Is Hopkins, Jeudy, or Waller such of a difference-maker that the Packers win seven of their last 10 games to go 9-8 and secure the NFC’s last wild-card spot?
Chase Claypool. No, no, no, no. The Bears traded up for Claypool in the second round of last year’s draft. With 18 catches in 10 games, Claypool was sent to Miami as part of a late pick swap.
Jeudy or not, this team is not going anywhere. And you know what? That’s fine. Struggling was expected. Growing pains are called growing pains because they hurt. The problem is there hasn’t been much progress, maybe none at all.
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.
