Packers History Is Against a Blockbuster Pre-Draft Trade
Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst has yet to trade valuable draft capital in a pre-draft trade. The last time the Packers traded a Day 1 or Day 2 pick for a player in the first month of the offseason was in 2003, a second-round pick for cornerback Al Harris.
Every offseason when NFL players go on the trading block, many Green Bay Packers fans come up with trade ideas for particular players. This offseason is no different with players in position of need being “available.”
The Packers have a big need for an edge rusher and a smaller need for a veteran wide receiver. Insert players like Myles Garrett, Maxx Crosby and D.K. Metcalf into this wish list for many Packers fans.
However, it has been a long time since a Packers general manager paid a premium in draft picks for a veteran player before the draft. Under both Ted Thompson and Brian Gutekunst the Packers have not traded a single draft pick in the months leading up to the draft. Both general managers have executed trade ups on draft day, but those were to draft players.
Tonight, @mattschneidman explained his reporting regarding the DK Metcalf trade situation👇
“What I was told by the person I trust is that there have been no negotiations or talks between the Packers and Seahawks about a DK Metcalf trade.” pic.twitter.com/Xj1J5KF1Ie
— 97.3 The Game (@TheGameMKE) March 1, 2025
The examples of this were: 2009 Clay Matthews (two 4th round picks to move into the late 1st round), 2012 Jerrel Worthy and Casey Hayward (trade ups in Round 2), 2013 Eddie Lacy (trade up in Round 2), 2016 Jason Spriggs (trade up in Round 2), 2018 Jaire Alexander (trade up in Round 1 - after trading down), 2019 Darnell Savage (trade up in Round 1), 2020 Jordan Love (trade up in Round 1), 2022 Christian Watson (trade up in Round 2).
In most cases, these trades worked out for the Packers. All of those players except for Spriggs and Worthy were at one point starting players.
Under Thompson and Gutekunst the only pre-draft trades involving top players were when the Packers traded their players to get back picks: 2006 Javon Walker, 2008 Corey Williams, 2022 Davante Adams, 2023 Aaron Rodgers. All of these trades returned at least 2nd round picks back.
Rewind about 20 to 30 years ago, when it was Ron Wolf or Mike Sherman making the football personnel decisions, it became more of a norm for the Packers to trade up valuable picks to either trade for a veteran or move up higher in the draft.
One thing I've heard a lot today: The Packers haven't drafted a wideout in first round for more than 20 years and don't make big trades.
Well, they used to not spend big in free agency. And they did last year with great success.
Strategies change.
— Corbin K. Smith (@CorbinSmithNFL) March 1, 2025
During Wolf’s first draft in 1992, he traded the 17th overall pick for Brett Favre. In Round 2, the Packers forfeited a 2nd round pick as compensation for hiring Mike Holmgren from the 49ers. This would be a trend in future drafts, from 1993 to 2004, the Packers did not pick with their original 2nd round pick seven times.
Several of these were trades up or down in the draft, like moving up for George Teague in 1993 or Vonnie Holliday in 1998. On three other occasions, Wolf or Sherman traded before the draft involving a Day 2 draft pick.
Based on what I've heard, for #Seahawks to move DK Metcalf, trade would have to be structured to receive No. 23 and either Romeo Doubs or Dontaryion Wicks in exchange for receiver and one of their early day three selections.
Anything less than that, it's not happening.
— Corbin K. Smith (@CorbinSmithNFL) February 28, 2025
1995: traded a 2nd round pick to Miami for Keith Jackson; 2002: traded a 4th round pick to New England for Terry Glenn; 2003: traded a 2nd round pick to Philadelphia for Al Harris.
2000: traded a 5th round pick and cornerback Fred Vinson to Seattle for Ahman Green and a 6th round pick.
If the Packers are to move a valuable pick or two for Seattle’s DK Metcalf, it would be out of the ordinary for how Brian Gutekunst has built this team the previous eight drafts. If the Packers were to add a veteran wide receiver it is more likely it is a player who becomes available via a release, a la Cooper Kupp or Davante Adams.
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Mitch McLaughlin is a Packers fan and shareholder residing in Sacramento, California. He will be writing Packers stories each week on Cheesehead TV. He can be found on Twitter: @McLaughlinMitch
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Comments (11)
NJ-RICK
March 02, 2025 at 01:19 pm
We need a GM like the Eagles have.... Gute is not aggressive enough when it comes to obtaining FA's or moving up in the draft. Our last two 1st round draft picks have been an embarrassment. Time for a new GM....
KenEllis
March 02, 2025 at 04:48 pm
The article states ... "it has been a long time since a Packers general manager paid a premium in draft picks for a veteran player before the draft."
WRONG, WRONG, and even more WRONG.
It has been more than 20 years since a Packers GM sent ANY ROUND 1-5 PICK (not just a premium pick) away for a veteran player AT ANY TIME (not just before the draft).
As for Eagles GM trading 1st round and other high picks for players like AJ Brown, Darius Slay, and CJ Garner-Johnson (and others), do you really see Green Bay making those types of trades?
greengold
March 03, 2025 at 11:01 am
I understand your sentiment, NJ-RICK, but the Eagles and the Packers have been in very different places in terms of what they can do.
Eagles Ownership and Management are on the same page. Not true for the Packers. Gutekunst has had his hands tied by Mark Murphy, and. that has proven to be disastrous.
Gutekunst is aggressive, knows what he wants, but he has ZERO COMMAND of anything other than his Personnel Dept. He has no final say in who his HC is, no final say in the deals he's able to explore and make happen.
Add to that the shit storm of the AR debacle. We could have gotten THREE 1st Round picks had the Packers sold high to Denver back in the day. But, nooooooooooooooooooo! Mark Murphy had to fuck it all up. Plain and simple.
Look at how PHI acquired the draft capital they did in order to trade away an R1 in 2022 to TEN for AJ Brown... That was made possible by trading their #6 Overall selection in 2021 to MIA for their #12 plus a 2022 R1, which happened to be via CLE!!!
That was freaking SHREWD.
I agree, and go out on a limb further, that our last 3 R1 selections have been questionable. I liked the Stokes pick in 2021. I liked the trade up to take JL in 2020. But, Quay Walker at the 22 pick in 2022? Devonte Wyatt at 28 the same draft I thought was solid, yet, questioned his limited use in rotation at Georgia, and how much of an impact we would receive.
Same could be said of the LVN pick in 2023. WHY??? Was he going to set the NFL on fire??? NO!!! He needed a solid year of development time, as did Wyatt. What good is the 5th year option of using an R1 pick to select a player when you're just not going to play him?
The Jordan Morgan pick... I was stoked about it until they never gave him a chance to play LT. His effectiveness at LT in his last 2 seasons of his 4 years starting career at Arizona were historically great.
Are you seeing where I am going?
MURPHY didn't allow Gutekunst to choose his HC, have final say on his staff... I mean, how many years did we completely WASTE with Mark Pettine and Joe Barry??? WOW!!! That is one hella lot of draft capital flailing in terms of sound development systems.
I could go on, but... all of this doesn't necessarily land on Gutekunst. Some of it does, but, here again... NONE of us knows how Mark Murphy might have manipulated Gutekunst's final calls throughout his tenure as a puppet GM.
As for the EAGLES??? They are HIGHLY ACTIVE MFs in the trade department...
It's not like PHI traded away their R1 and they were done with that AJ Brown trade. They had another they used, #15, which they traded to HOU along with #124, 162 and 166 to move up to #13 Overall to take DT Jordan Davis.
They made another trade with NO that same year to get the #10 Overall in 2023, then traded CHI that #10 and a 2024 R4 to move up to #9 to take Jalen Carter...
The Eagles ACTIVELY made their SB winning 2024 team happen with a cohesive ownership-management-coaching hierarchy, and very shrewd, active play in the trade and FA marketplaces.
THE PACKERS DO NOT HAVE THAT.
Leatherhead
March 02, 2025 at 03:28 pm
There are old pilots, and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots.
I remember drafting Bruce Clark and Rich Campbell. Brent Fullwood. I remember the Hadl Trade. I remember Mandarich. I remember Justin Harrell and Derek Sherrod.
So if I have the greatest job in the world and I'm making millions of dollars, I want to try to avoid doing stuff like that. And it's easy to make mistakes, and mistakes are expensive in every sense of the word, both to the organization and to the guy making them. I'd be careful. Probably more careful than most. In Golf parlance, hit the ball down the middle and don't get cute.
Ted Thompson was well known for not saying a damn thing about offseason plans, and IMO, the Packers have really been keeping their cards close. A few cryptic comments about "big guys", and his own history, is about all we have to go by.
In about a week , four of our starting 21 defensive guys will become FA, plus our kicker and holder/punter . On offense, we only have one free agent but we also have to replace a key weapon. That's 8 people out of the 45 right there.
We could resign Slaton, McDuffie, Wilson, Whelan, McManus. That's 5. We'll have to use the draft and/or free agency to replace Myers and Watson and Stokes. That's only 3 moves, and we could probably afford to get a premium FA, maybe two. Let's see what he does in free agency, and then we'll look at what we could get done in the draft.
The Alexander thing will eventually be resolved. He's not going to be on the team any more.
LeotisHarris
March 02, 2025 at 06:19 pm
Chuck Yeager lived to be 97 years old. There's an old, bold pilot for ya right there, buster!
I'd also add Barry Smith and Rich Campbell to the list. Otherwise, another quality post from the Leatherhead.
Matt
March 02, 2025 at 04:41 pm
1st + Doubs/Wicks for Metcalf is ridiculous.
Those young receivers present some value, especially Doubs. What does Metcalf has to justify giving them up + 1st round pick?
Metcalf is an athletic freak. Big, fast, strong, explosive. I think there has been at most 2 maybe 3 more athletic WR's in the history of NFL but he is an average WR1 accross the league. It looks like we witnessed his progess guring the second half of his rookie season. After that he hit plateau. He looks like his game is dominant but it isn't. In the 2024 stat sheet he is among guys like Sutton, Flowers, Meyers, Ridley, Mooney, Jennings. We wouldn't consider trade for any of them - I mean we as a fan base. Guy like this is not worth the contract he'd bring to town. We also need to remember how he acts from time to time. It is embarassing.
Even if they would want "only" 1st round pick for Metcalf, I prefer Egbuka or Golden.
2nd - I prefer Isiah Bond.
3rd - give me Metcalf.
Btw. with our 6th or 7th we should take a shot on Dont'e Thornton Jr. Nothing to lose with him. Also perimeter speedsters' mission is to stretch the field, so even if there are no stats included, there will be some benefit from his presence. 6-5 tall guy running 4.30 forty is not that common. Get a baller earlier and we are set.
nagawicka
March 02, 2025 at 05:14 pm
Insane premise outta the gate. Trading a veteran for a #1 or 2 draft pick is the only question here. Willis & Love both being untouchable.
stockholder
March 02, 2025 at 06:23 pm
I thought we moved on from Sherman.
The mediocrity is so present.
This team has the same problems he had.
Corner back- Harris- DL- No White. LB - depth
And look how bad he wanted a WR.
Dumping his second round picks.
For three straight years.
So what did Gute do for Watson?
And what did TT do after 2010.
Listen to Gute?.
History hasn't taught Gute a Damn thing.
All show and hype is what were getting.
Either he signs Free agents.
Or MLF days are numbered.
stockholder
March 02, 2025 at 07:05 pm
WE Got money - Do it
The OL turns to strength-
Will fries - Guard Instant upgrade/ OL Depth
Drew Dalman C.
Defense Wins championships
Malcolm Koonce. - DE Why trade for Crosby?
DJ Reed. - CB Make the rumors True .
Draft - Jihad Campbell LB
And there shouldn't be any problem
taking a WR after Campbell.
jonesnatelye
March 03, 2025 at 02:06 am
It’s interesting how the Packers’ front office has stuck to their philosophy of holding onto draft capital rather than making big pre-draft trades for veteran players. While fans may dream about acquiring stars like Myles Garrett or D.K. Metcalf, history suggests Green Bay prefers to build through the draft. Their approach is more about long-term sustainability than flashy moves. Kind of like in Geometry Dash, where careful planning and precision matter more than rushing ahead without strategy. Do you think they should break the trend this year and make a move?
Boneman
March 03, 2025 at 04:46 am
The GM's job is to put together a competitive roster and manage resources with the goal of being competitive every year and giving your team a chance to compete for a super bowl. Ultimately once in the playoffs it's up to the Team, players and coaches, to win the Title. The foolish teams are those that think constantly adding players and coaches will get you over the line. Players have to rise up in the moment and if they don't you have to coach them up, keep them motivated and do it again. The last two years the Packers have fielded a team that could compete for a SB but have come up short. There are no 'quick' fixes. Add talent within our structure and let them compete for jobs. If we can get a FA that fits our model (mid twenties, athletic and injury free and affordable) then we will make appropriate offers. Stay the course and ultimately we get there. Remember that the Packers had legitimate SB teams for years after their last Title. That kind of consistency isn't by accident.