Getty Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers warms up prior to the game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on October 30, 2022 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
The NFL trade deadline has come and gone, but the Green Bay Packers‘ roster remains unchanged.
The franchise’s inaction — despite its obvious need for an upgrade at wide receiver and several reported inquiries to address that weakness — may come as a surprise or business as usual, depending on perspective. Green Bay has not traditionally mortgaged draft picks for mid-season roster additions, many of which prove either to be rentals or sunk costs on veterans who inevitably get injured and/or underperform the contracts they are awarded.
But this year felt like it might have been different. The Packers aren’t usually sporting a losing record halfway through a campaign, let alone a 3-5 mark that has left them 3.5 games back of the Minnesota Vikings in the division and rendered a spot in playoffs a precarious proposition at best.
Green Bay won the NFC last season. They offered expensive, long-term extensions to several defensive players to solidify that side of the ball for years to come. Then they made quarterback Aaron Rodgers the highest-paid player annually in league history. It seems almost silly to imagine why they wouldn’t deal a pick or two to improve a glaring flaw on offense and position themselves to make a run through a weak NFC that could still offer them a path to success in 2022.
At least one current NFL general manager voiced the same sentiment in comments he offered to Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post on Wednesday, November 2.
“The league is really changing, and if you are trying to win, then you’ve got to be willing to part with picks and be more aggressive,” the GM said. “But they also might be looking at it like they just gave their quarterback $50 million [a year] and he isn’t like [Drew] Brees or [Tom] Brady. There wasn’t any discount so they could spread it around to other guys. He wanted every penny, and they might be sending a message back to him now.”
Green Bay Has Given Off Dysfunctional Vibes at Times This Season
GettyHead coach Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers talks with QB Aaron Rodgers during the first half of a game against the Oakland Raiders at Lambeau Field on October 20, 2019 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
That wasn’t the only comment from a rival GM about the situation in Green Bay.
“Must be a f***** up place,” a separate general manager said to La Canfora.
While it’s hard to criticize an organization that has won 13 games and the division in each of the previous three seasons as “f***** up,” some rifts in the organization have appeared over the last year and a half.
Rodgers pushed for a trade two offseasons past, then used the same threat last summer, along with the threat of retirement, to force the front office’s hand in contract negotiations. Earlier this season, Rodgers spoke publicly of a need to simplify the offense, a suggestion head coach Matt LaFleur responded to in a press conference by saying, “I don’t know what that means.”
The quarterback also offered freely to the press on multiple occasions in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline that he expected GM Brian Gutekunst to be in on available names at wide receiver. That, of course, did not pan out.
Packers Face Tough Schedule With Injured Wide Receiver Group
GettyWide receiver Randall Cobb of the Green Bay Packers was carted off the field with ankle injury during the team’s Week 6 loss to the New York Jets.
The going won’t get much easier for the Packers in the coming weeks after they travel to meet the Detroit Lions next Sunday. Green Bay will then host the Dallas Cowboys (6-2) and Tennessee Titans (5-2) before going on the road for a showdown with the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles (7-0).
The schedule will be even more difficult to navigate if the Packers’ receiver group doesn’t get healthy, and fast. Randall Cobb will miss at least the next two games with an ankle injury that sent him to IR, while Allen Lazard is nursing a shoulder injury that sidelined him for last weekend’s game against the Buffalo Bills. Rookie wideout Christian Watson suffered a concussion in that same contest, leaving his status against the Lions up in the air.
Green Bay can still make a play for free agent receiver Odell Beckham Jr., though he isn’t expected to be healthy until some point between mid-November and December. If the Packers can’t turn it around before then, they may not be in a position to land Beckham, who has made it clear he wants to compete for a contender upon his return to game action.