Rodgers Carries Healthy Outlook After Quiet Trade Deadline

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers addressed the trade deadline and what's held back the team through eight games.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers didn’t make a move at Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline. For quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the message was clear.

“We’ve got to play with the guys we’ve got and win with the guys we’ve got,” Rodgers said after Wednesday’s practice.

Rodgers was “optimistic” that general manager Brian Gutekunst would make a move to bolster the team’s sagging playoff chances on Tuesday. A few days before the trade deadline, the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles acquired Robert Quinn, who finished second in the NFL in sacks last year, from the Chicago Bears. On Tuesday, the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings swung a deal with the Detroit Lions to get tight end T.J. Hockenson.

While the top teams in the NFC standings made big moves to solidify their place among the league’s elite, the Packers did nothing. As usual. Rodgers wasn’t focused on the midseason powerhouses, though. He’s focused on winning a game – preferably on Sunday at the Detroit Lions – that could turn around the season.

“Well, with all due respect to those teams, we’re chasing some other teams right now,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got to get back in the hunt. Those teams are out front right now. I’m worried about our guys that we’ve got in the locker room. There’s more trades in 2022 than there were in 2005. That’s kind of the trend in the league that you’re seeing some teams offload guys maybe in the last years of their contracts or guys they don’t think they’re going to bring back. I know we were in on some guys and liked a few, but it just didn’t work out.”

If season-saving help isn’t coming from a trade, where’s it going to come from?

The injured list.

Not that the Packers are perfect, but Rodgers said injuries have been part of what’s holding back this team. He’s got a point.

In Green Bay’s eight games, it’s started five different line combinations. The group it would like to use the rest of the season hasn’t played a snap together, with David Bakhtiari inactive for Game 7 vs. Washington and Elgton Jenkins inactive for Game 8 at Buffalo.

At receiver, Allen Lazard missed Game 1 and Game 8. Sammy Watkins missed Game 3 through Game 6. Randall Cobb will wind up missing at least Game 7 through Game 10. Christian Watson missed Games 4, 6 and 7 as well as most of 8.

The best offensive lines are the lines that play together week after week. The Packers haven’t had that. And Rodgers has struggled to build continuity with his receivers in part because they’ve been in an out of the lineup.

Amplifying the problems, Bakhtiari was a surprise inactive at Washington. Jenkins was a surprise inactive at Buffalo. And after missing two games with a hamstring injury, Watson lasted just six snaps in his return after suffering a concussion.

Game plans created with the expectation of certain players filling certain roles have been scrapped. It’s not an excuse. It’s reality.

“We just haven’t had our full group of guys. And I think that’s hurt some of the chemistry and some of the timing and some of the things we wanted to do,” Rodgers said. “You lose 9 (Watson) on the first series, it changes the dynamic of the whole game. When you have an injury, it changes some of the stuff you can do. We just haven’t been hitting really on all cylinders because of some of that stuff.”

Help is not on the way. The only thing that’s going to save the Packers are players getting healthy and playing better.

“We need our guys to play just a tick higher, I think all of us,” he said. “That’s what we did in 2016. It wasn’t like we really added anybody to the mix. We’ve got to hopefully get 9 (Christian Watson) and 13 (Allen Lazard) back this week, Cobby in a couple more weeks. We’re hopeful that both Elgton and Dave will be able to go and there’s no surprises on game day.

“I think that squad, when you put that together, I think we can win some football games with those guys. That’s what we’re all hoping for, is just to get a little big healthier and then everybody play a little bit better.”

If Rodgers was upset about what happened – or, rather, what didn’t happen – at the trade deadline, he did a great job of hiding it. Always the optimist, it could have been worse. At 3-5, Gutekunst could have thrown in the towel on the season.

“Well, we didn’t subtract, either. I think that’s a really important point to make,” Rodgers said. “So, obviously, the organization – the third floor – believes that we have the right guys in place to win. There’s no tanking. There’s no rebuild. This is the team that is expected to get the job done. So, it’s on us as players and also coaches to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to win football games.”

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