The Green Bay Packers currently sit at 3-3 on the leaderboard entering week seven. It has been a rather bad season considering the roster talent and expectations for this team. We have seen the defense struggle due to coaching, we have seen flaws with the special teams, but most surprisingly the offense has been absolutely horrific. Now there is no one reason for this. Aaron Rodgers has struggled, but so has Matt LaFleur as a play caller as well as our young weapons continue to struggle to get open as well. We have also seen Elgton Jenkins struggle at RT and even more concerning, Royce Newman looks like a turnstile at RG, so a shift on the offensive line is also needed. All this being said, this offense needs help badly. The trade deadline is only a couple weeks away. With that lets explore five players I believe the packers need to target if they want to right the ship. (Note this is being written only an hour after WR Robbie Anderson has been traded to the Arizona Cardinals, he was originally supposed to make this list.)
Number Five: OT Josh Jones: Arizona Cardinals
Trade Compensation: 2023 5th round pick
Starting off at number five we have a bit of a surprising name in Josh Jones (no not our former safety.) Jones was a third round pick in 2020 for the Arizona Cardinals and has not shown much since being drafted. A LT coming out Jones has predominantly played on the right side for the Cardinals which is where the Packers could use some help. It should be noted in his three seasons (he has only played nine snaps so far in 2022) he has not performed well. In 2021, the one year he played a significant amount of snaps he recorded an overall PFF grade of 46.7, with a pass blocking grade of 48. While this is bad I do believe a change of scenery could be good for him and he would provide the Packers with someone who could compete for either RT or RG.
Number Four: WR Chase Claypool: Pittsburgh Steelers
Trade Compensation: 2023 4th round pick
Next up in the list is Steelers WR Chase Claypool. A second round pick in 2020 for the Steelers, Claypool appeared poised to do big things, recording 62 catches for 873 yards and 9 touchdowns in his rookie year with the ghost of Big Ben throwing him the football. He managed another good year in 2021 notching 59 catches for 860 yards and 2 touchdowns. But enter 2022. After some off the field friction between Claypool and head coach Mike Tomlin in 2021, Claypool appeared to be in the dog house. The team committed significant money to fellow wideout Diontae Johnson as well as drafted George Pickens and Calvin Austin in the second and fourth rounds respectively. Since then Claypool has played a decent amount of time due to the Austin injury but with Austin set to return the team could be looking to recoup some draft capital in a year where they appear to be rebuilding around Kenny Pickett. Pairing a vertical ball winner with a less accurate Aaron Rodgers could help make up for some of the lack of passing production.
Number Three: OT Isaiah Wynn: New England Patriots
Trade Compensation: 2023 5th round pick and 2024 7th round pick
Isaiah Wynn is an intriguing trade target for the Packers. A former first round pick for the Pats, Wynn has dealt with injury issues throughout his now five year career. He missed his rookie season and since then has never played a complete season. To top off the negatives he is in the midst of a horrendous season, including a terrible pass blocking performance the likes of which make even Royce Newman jealous. That being said we have seen three prior seasons of quality pass blocking from Wynn and quality run blocking so there is absolutely no reason to suspect it isn’t there with him. The problem is his best grades have always come when he was playing LT and if the Pack were to trade for him, it would be to play along the right side of the line. So could this be another case of Elgton Jenkins? Quite possibly but it is a risk I believe the Packers should take. At the very least it would provide even more quality depth along the offensive line and could easily provide a valuable starter for the team.
Number Two: WR Darius Slayton: New York Giants
Trade Compensation: 2023 4th round pick
The compensation for a Darius Slayton trade has only gone up since I last wrote about him. The Giants are playing winning football and while I still have not bought into them as a real team, they most certainly have. There is a significant chance they would not even trade away Slayton, but it is in the Packers best interest to try. With Christian Watson and Sammy Watkins banged up the Packers have nobody with a vertical, speedy skill set. This has certainly had its impact on the passing game. Slayton would provide this until either of those two could return and even then, you can never have enough vertical speed in the NFL. This may in fact be the least likely trade of all of them on this list, even more so than our next player, but one can always hope.
Number One: WR DJ Moore: Carolina Panthers
Trade Compensation: 2023 2nd round pick and 2024 4th round pick.
The trade compensation for DJ Moore would be quite significant. He is now on a new, more expensive contract and is seen as a critical piece for a new regime that will be entering Carolina. This being said, the Packers should absolutely do everything in their power to target Moore. While most certainly Moore could provide a significant boost to this 2022 team, the difference between him and the rest of the players on this list is he would be a long term solution to a team with questions on the offensive side of the ball. So far in 2022 Moore has 20 catches for 204 yards and 1 touchdown. Not good for a team that just committed to him in the form of a hefty contract. Prior to this year Moore has had three straight 1000 yard campaigns, even with all of the questionable quarterbacks this team has had over that span. Moore would provide a legit number one receiver to this team, allowing some of the focus to be taken off of Romeo Doubs and the other receivers, thus allowing them to develop and get open on the field more often.
Conclusion:
The Green Bay Packers have many issues on their team, from coaching to roster talent. If they are serious about winning one last super bowl with Aaron Rodgers they need to throw the kitchen sink at fixing their issues, including acquiring at least one outside talent player to try to bring a spark to an offense that, plainly put, is dead in the water. If not, then the team’s season will be over.
