Getty Jalen Reagor #18 of the Philadelphia Eagles runs with the ball against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on September 12, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Laviska Shenault Jr. isn’t the only receiver from the 2020 NFL draft class that has drawn trade interest from the Green Bay Packers over the past several months.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Packers had been talking with the Philadelphia Eagles about a potential trade for former first-round pick Jalen Reagor around the time of the 2022 NFL draft in late April.
“Pretty quietly, the Eagles shopped Reagor for months,”: Rapoport said Wednesday on NFL Total Access. “At one point, I thought they were going to end up dealing him to the Packers around the time of the draft.”
The Packers were desperately in need of receiving talent heading into the draft after trading away All-Pro wideout Davante Adams at his request earlier in the offseason. Reagor would have presented them with a former first-round talent who is more of a project than anything, one with massive boom-or-bust potential and value as a returner on special teams. Instead, they opted not to trade and drafted three receivers — Christian Watson (second round), Romeo Doubs (fourth) and Samori Toure (seventh).
Ultimately, the Eagles couldn’t find a trade partner for Reagor until August 31 when they shipped him to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2023 seventh-round pick and a 2024 conditional fifth-round pick that could turn into a fourth-rounder depending on if he hits the agreed-upon statistical thresholds.
Reagor has caught 64 passes for 695 yards and three touchdowns over his first two NFL seasons and spent significant time as a punt and kick returner in 2021; although, he muffed two punts in the Eagles’ playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has failed to step up in the offense when called upon. At least now it isn’t the Packers’ risk to take.
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Packers Also Called Jaguars About Shenault
It’s become a bit of a running joke that the Packers like to talk to everybody about possible trades and rarely pull the trigger on an actual deal, but it is still noteworthy which players are piquing their interest even if they don’t add them to their roster.
According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the Packers also called the Jacksonville Jaguars about Shenault — a second-round receiver out of the same 2020 class as Reagor — before he was traded on August 29 to the Carolina Panthers for a pair of Day 3 picks. It is worth noting that the Packers are reported to have met with both Shenault and Reagor at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot considering neither of them were brought in for Top 30 visits.
Note I found interesting last night: Carolina had some competition for Laviska Shenault. Packers, Falcons were among the other teams that were talking to the Jaguars about trading for Shenault before they reached a deal with the Panthers, per sources.
The real question about the Packers’ interest in the trade market is when they were making these inquiries. Rapoport said the discussions about Reagor were around the time of the draft before they added three rookies, but there’s nothing on when they talked with Jacksonville about Shenault. Chances are, it was before Doubs started showing out in practice and Sammy Watkins began gelling with Aaron Rodgers.
The Packers aren’t exactly in a position currently to add more receivers to their roster. They kept seven of them — Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Amari Rodgers, Watkins, Watson, Doubs and Toure — for their initial 53-man roster, and while they could cut one of them if they found someone else to add, it would appear they have a well-layered receiving room mixed with quality veterans and talented rookies to start off the year.