NFL Rumors: Green Bay Trading Nick Barnett?

Now that the Packers have decided to bring A.J. Hawk back, the attention turns to LB Nick Barnett. Green Bay already has a number of linebackers on their roster and head coach Mike McCarthy has already said publicly that Desmond Bishop will be one of the teams starting inside-linebackers come next season. This leaves Barnett as the odd man out.

Steve Wyche of NFL.com reports that the Packers intend to shop Barnett once a new CBA agreement is in place rather than cut him lose. Considering that the market for middle-linebackers is fairly slim, there’s a chance that the Packers could recoup some value for Barnett but it would likely be a mid-to-late round pick. Wyche’s source mentioned that the team would consider dropping him if they aren’t able to find any takers.