As the 2025 NFL season begins to take shape for all 32 teams, it’s time for general managers to take quick stock of their roster, determine the holes that have developed in the team, and how best to address those holes. Packers fans are familiar with the process of looking at options around the league. Whether it was the song and dance with Odell Beckham Jr in 2021 (albeit Beckham was a free agent , falling short of acquiring Marshawn Lynch in 2010 in the trade that saw him shipped to Seattle instead, or the seemingly yearly question of trading for Will Fuller, no matter what team he happened to be on at the time. 

The examples are endless, and Gutekunst is well known for “being in on every conversation” but never coming through. 

That is, until he did. 

This isn’t an article about the miracle of the Micah Parsons trade, but rather what that trade does to affect other conversations the team could have. The most obvious impact that Micah Parsons had was his impact on the team’s cash flow, and their future draft assets. As of now at the beginning of the league year in 2026, the Packers will be $380,630 over the cap, and that’s before attempting to re-sign any of their pending free agents. Now, the Packers have tons of tools at their disposal to get comfortably under the cap, including restructures, void year contracts, and player cuts. Plus, an absolute wizard of a cap guru in Russ Ball. There’s no need to worry about how the Packers will navigate adding Parsons to the mix. The point I’m trying to make is that there won’t be a lot of room to re-sign their own free agents, come March. Trading away some of those pending free agents for compensation now, instead of waiting to let them walk in free agency, could make sense from a financial / draft standpoint.

The Packers shouldn't even consider it. 

Over the last few days, there’s been tons of information coming to light about offers that other teams have made for Packers’ players, mostly stemming from the wonderful work that Easton Butler has done as an insider for Packers fans. Today, I’ll be going through those rumors and analyzing why the Packers should say no to each and every one of them. 

There’s a couple of through lines to the entire idea however, that I’d like to get out of the way now: the Packers are Super Bowl contenders, through week 2 are seemingly the favorites in NFC North and the NFC in general. Disrupting any areas of the roster are probably not within the Packer’s Super Bowl timeline. 

If there is an argument to making these trades, it’s in an attempt to recoup the loss of their two first round picks. Now obviously any of the players that the Packers could trade won’t be in the range of first round compensation, but would rather be within the idea of getting back up to seven selections on draft weekend. This is a recent trend that GMs around the league have begun to lean into: that even when giving up large amounts of draft picks, getting something back, even very, very late selections is a more advantageous strategy than getting nothing back at all. The idea is that, if drafting players is throwing darts at a dartboard, you’d still like to have seven or more darts in your hand, even if they are lower quality. (I feel like that whole paragraph is a bit clunky) An example of this is the draft day trade we saw between the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars. The Browns moved down three spots, and were compensated with the No. 5 pick, a second-round pick (No. 36), a fourth-round selection (No. 126) and a 2026 first-round pick from the Jaguars. The Jaguars received the No. 3 pick of course, but also  a fourth-round choice (No. 104) and a sixth-round selection (No. 200). The Jaguars preserved their selection count in 2025, even with the move up. 

There was a part of me that was surprised there wasn’t a kickback from the Cowboys to the Packers, again even if we are talking about some seventh rounders. But then again, honorable Packers Hall of Famer Jerry Jones plays by his own rules, and is often late to these kinds of trends. The Packers therefore, now find themselves a few picks short of their normal preference. Depending on how desperate Gutekunst is to get some choices back, trading a player could be an option. 

Quay Walker

The Packers are currently working on a Long Term extension for LB Quay Walker, despite the Packers receiving 2 trade offers for the former Georgia product. Green Bay has told teams they plan to extend Quay. The two teams are the Chargers, who offered a 4th, and the Saints, who… pic.twitter.com/3MBjLg688i

— Easton Butler (@Easton__Butler) September 15, 2025

Quay Walker is in a contract year, and has performed well through this point. He’s a great fit in the ultra-athletic Packers defense that Brian Gutekunst has been building for years, he’s half of the most athletic duo in the league with Edgerrin Cooper, and he’s the wearer of a green dot on his helmet and a captain’s patch on his chest. 

GM Brian Gutekunst has publicly indicated the team’s excitement to lock Quay into a long term extension with the Packers last offseason, and although they were never able to finish negotiations, seems to still be in the front office’s long term plans. The rise of Ty’ron Hopper and Isiah McDuffie being tied to Green Bay through next offseason could give the team enough reason to let Quay become a cap casualty, as it searches for salary relief.

According to Justis Mosqueda, a Quay Walker contract extension could land in the ballpark of a three year, $45 million extension, similar to the deals that Nick Bolton and Jamien Sherwood signed last offseason. According to OverTheCap's comp pick formula, him receiving that contract could net the Packers a 3rd or 4th round compensation. So most likely, the negotiations would have to start in that ballpark. According to Easton Butler, the Chargers have come closest with a fourth round offer. So what’s the difference, if the Packers receive the same compensation for a Quay Walker who’s no longer on their roster? The Charger’s offer would come to Green Bay a year earlier than the compensatory pick would. 

Even still, as Quay seems to be settling into his role as the Mike linebacker in this defense, there’s no reason to disrupt the best defense that the Packers have had in a long time. 

Malik Willis

Cincinnati offered a 6th in 2026 for Willis. https://t.co/z6RSxC9QSw

— Easton Butler (@Easton__Butler) September 15, 2025

This next possibility is an exercise in risk management. It’s no secret that when Jordan Love was hurt last year, Malik Willis was the reason that the Packers could still win games in his absence. I don’t think that the Packers make the playoffs without him last year, and certainly not with Sean Clifford or Micheal Pratt. 

Of course, you hope that Malik Willis never sees the field at all in 2025, outside of some garbage time drives and kneeldowns of course. So the question again becomes whether the team could be comfortable letting that kind of safety net go. 

They do have Clayton Tune waiting in the wings on the practice squad, as the likely backup in 2026 post-Willis. Should the worst come to pass, could Matt LaFleur put together a gameplan for Tune, as he did so excellently last year for Willis? I think he could. If, behind the scenes, Tune has demonstrated enough of a mastery of the playbook to put LaFleur at ease, that could be one scenario in which Gutekunst could pull the trigger. That’s a long shot however, as demanding as Matt has been of his quarterbacks to learn the playbook as completely as the starters. 

Then there’s the question of what kind of compensation Willis could fetch, either through trade or on the open market. He’s a former third round pick, but when the Packers acquired him last year, the price was a mere seventh round pick. Since then he’s looked incredible for the Packers, as mentioned winning multiple games and looking like a much more comfortable passer then he did with the Titans. Whether other teams in the league believe that Willis could sustain that play outside of Green Bay is another question. According to (again) Easton Butler, we have a starting idea of what another team would be willing to pay. I think we can all agree that a sixth round pick is a laughably low compensation for Willis, especially for a team as desperate for QB play as the Bengals. For the Packers to part ways with their no2 quarterback, someone would likely need to clear any compensation picks the Packers could expect. 

There’s a bit of murkiness in these waters, and it comes down to what the rest of the league believes Willis could be in his next role. If Willis chooses to walk, but does not receive any offers to be a team’s outright starter or to compete for the starting spot, it could look similar to the contracts Jameis Winston received from the Giants, which is a two year, $8 million contract, which could fetch a comp pick in the range of the sixth or seventh round. If a team believes in him, he could be looking at a Daniel Jones type contract, which is a one year, $14 million deal, a third / fourth round comp. 

Romeo Doubs 

Several teams we have called the Packers, asking about the availability of Packers WR Romeo Doubs. At least 2 teams have an offer on the table I'm told. pic.twitter.com/xVJezWL0qf

— Easton Butler (@Easton__Butler) September 10, 2025

Now admittedly, Romeo is probably the most likely Packer to get moved before the trade deadline. It’s been a bit of an obvious conclusion since Matthew Golden and Savion Williams were drafted early in April. And now, with Christian Watson’s one year extension, the Packers’ wide receiver budget just got even smaller. Not to mention the insane amount of pass catchers that will be entering a contract year in 2026. When handing out extensions, the Packers will need to choose between Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, and now Watson. There’s just no room for Doubs in the budget. 

Taking a look at recent receiver contracts within Doubs’ projected range, there are a few examples. Khalil Shakir just signed a 4 year, $53 million contract at $13.24 million per year. Rashod Bateman is another good example of a mid-level receiver’s contract, at 3 years, $36, 750,000 million with $12.25 million per year. Both those contracts would land a comp pick in the fifth round. So we have our trade benchmark. According to Easton Butler, there are (or were) at least two offers on the table for Romeo, though we don’t know the exact picks or teams involved, though we have since learned that his was a name floated during the Micah Parsons trade negotiations as well. In order for the Packers to part ways with Romeo, the package would likely need to involve a fifth round pick, or better. 

The reason this trade has more legs than other possibilities is the crowded nature of the receiving room. We’ve seen Gutekunst’s past willingness to sell pieces in order to get some of the younger players on the roster more playing time (see the surprise trade of Preston Smith last year, in order to allow LVN, Brenton Cox, and Kingsley Enegbarre more playing time). There could be a similar situation brewing here, if Matt LaFleur indicates he has the adequate trust in Matthew Golden and Savion Williams. And of course, the sooner than later return of Christian Watson will demand an even thinner snap count across the position group. 

The long term injury to Jayden Reed certainly throws a wrench into those ideas. Plus, so far through the season Romeo has looked like Jordan Love’s favorite target. He’s been flashing great hands, route running finesse, and been a solid third down option for Jordan. I don’t see any reason to rock the boat on a position group that looks, so far, to have taken a major step forward in 2025. 

Conclusion

At the end of the day, one of the major strengths of the 2025 Green Bay Packers is that they have so many good depth pieces everywhere on the roster. It can change in an instant, and that’s why it’s so important for the Packers to keep that depth in place. 

Trading away players for draft assets would signal a walking back of the “all in” mentality that has dominated the entire franchise since the Parsons trade. The energy that has permeated the entire building, from the fans to the players and coaches, must be preserved. Momentum is squarely with the Packers right now, and any disruption of that could prove to be disastrous.