Packers Have Real Interest in Adding Receiver at NFL Trade Deadline

The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday. Will the Green Bay Packers make a move to help save the season?

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Oct 29, 2022 2:52 PM EDT

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With the trade deadline just days away, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst faces quite a dilemma.

The Packers are 3-4 and have lost three consecutive games heading into Sunday night’s game at the powerhouse Buffalo Bills. Their season, at this point, doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Trading away assets, whether it’s a future draft pick or one of their young receivers, and adding more dollars to their stressed salary cap will only delay the inevitable rebuild.

On the other hand, Aaron Rodgers is still the quarterback. While he hasn’t played to his MVP form, he’s still Aaron Rodgers. As one high-ranking executive said during a conversation about receivers recently, “If you swapped and gave them [his team’s] quarterback, they’d be 0-5. They would win zero games without A-Rod.”

With another kick-the-can-down-the-road rewriting of Rodgers’ contract, bets that De’Vondre Campbell and Rasul Douglas weren’t one-year wonders and the additions of a few veteran pieces, Gutekunst hit the gas in hopes of making one more push after three consecutive playoff disappointments. It was an aggressive approach and acknowledgement that it might be now or never with their 17th-year quarterback.

So, does Gutekunst admit defeat before the calendar flips to November and practically ensure Rodgers will leave Green Bay with just the one Super Bowl ring? Or will he add a receiver by Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline in hopes that a difference-making weapon will save the season?

According to two sources, the expectation is the Packers will indeed acquire a receiver in the next few days. Perhaps, if demand outpaces supply, the asking price will be too steep. Perhaps the Packers will get crushed by the Bills and Gutekunst will like the vibe surrounding the team even less than the outcome. But the feeling is the Packers will be buyers at the trade deadline and receiver is the position.

“He’s between a rock and a hard place,” one source said. Given the mediocre middle of the NFC, one receiver could mean the difference between getting in the playoffs and making a run or facing an early offseason filled with uncertainty. On the other hand, there isn’t a singular target on the market. Would anyone make a season-saving difference?

Three names have come up. These players may or may not be potential Packers targets. Rather, they are the players three sources said make sense.

The Young Fit: Chase Claypool

The Packers like big receivers. At 6-foot-4 and 238 pounds, that’s Chase Claypool. A second-round pick by the Steelers in 2020, he’s caught 28 passes for 266 yards (9.5 average) and one touchdown in seven games this season after averaging about 60 receptions for 865 yards during his first two seasons.

The Packers need a stretch-the-field threat; Claypool caught 19 passes and scored six touchdowns on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield in 2020 and 2021. His size would help in the quick game as a run-after-catch player and blocker.

Because he’s only a third-year player, he’d be under contract through the 2023 season. Thus, getting Claypool wouldn’t be a today-only transaction. He is available, sources say.

The Young Speedster: Jerry Jeudy

Jeudy was the 15th pick of the 2020 draft. After catching 52 passes for 856 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie and 38 passes for 467 yards and zero touchdowns in 10 games last season, he’s grabbed 24 passes for 386 yards and two scores in 2022. That’s a 17-game pace of 58 receptions, 937 yards and five touchdowns.

The Russell Wilson trade has provided disappointing results for the Broncos, but Jeudy has caught 5-of-14 deep shots for 218 yards and one touchdown, according to PFF. He’d immediately help the Packers stretch the field vertically, which would help free up the short and immediate game, which has sputtered more and more with every week.

Jeudy is under contract through the 2023 season; the Packers would have the ability to use the fifth-year option to tack on another season. Sources are divided on if the Broncos are open to trading him.

The Veteran: Brandin Cooks

A first-round pick by the Saints in 2014, Cooks has been passed around like a hot potato: three seasons with the Saints, one with the Patriots, two with the Rams and, now, his third with the Texans.

At age 29, Cooks remains a viable receiver. In a perfect world, he’d be a team’s No. 2, a high-ranking executive said. The executive, who has a good grasp of who is being shopped, said Cooks would be his choice. “He’s better than what you have,” he said. Said another source, “With him and Allen (Lazard), you can win with them as your top two.”

Cooks is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. In fact, from 2015 through 2021, he topped 1,000 yards in six of seven seasons. Last year, he caught 90 passes for 1,037 yards and six touchdowns. In six games this year, he’s caught 28 passes for 281 yards and one score. That’s a full-season pace of 79 receptions, 796 yards and three touchdowns.

When Cooks entered the league in 2014, he ran his 40 in 4.33 seconds. He’s caught 3-of-5 deep passes this year and 20-of-49 the previous two seasons, according to PFF.

Sources says the rebuilding Texans will consider offers. Unlike Claypool and Jeudy, who are on inexpensive first contracts, Cooks is due base salaries of $18 million in 2023 and $13 million in 2024 as part of an extension agreed to this past offseason. The Packers almost certainly would have to sign him to a contract extension this offseason to spread out the financial pain.

Ideally, the Packers would like to land a receiver who can help next year, too, instead of a one-year rental. Reported interest in Arizona’s A.J. Green, the 34-year-old who hasn’t reached 1,000 yards since 2017, probably would be more like Plan P than Plan A or B.