Packers Calling About Potential WR Trades

According to Jordan Schultz, the Packers are actively calling around the league to inquire about potentially trading for a wide receiver.  

Schultz notes that Green Bay is hoping to find a player who is still under his rookie contract. 

This comes after veteran WR Randall Cobb was placed on injured reserve, WR Christian Watson dealing with a hamstring injury, and WR Sammy Watkins recently being activated from the injured reserve. It’s also worth mentioning that WR Allen Lazard suffered a shoulder injury in Week 7. 

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has been vocal about the lack of quality from their receiving core so far this season and that they must “simplify” their offense going forward. 

The point was if we’re not executing those plans, which to be honest they’re not the most complex things the majority of the time, then the only slight reaction might be to even simplify things even further,” Rodgers said, via Christopher Kuhagen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “That doesn’t mean less motions or checks at the line of scrimmage. It just means let’s make sure these guys can handle what we’re doing. It was really an alert for our players. We need to lock in a little bit more and simplify things in our own mind. Even the most complex plays can be simplified in our mind. We just need to be better in the details. The details have not been good enough.”

Rodgers added that it’s up to the players to execute HC Matt LaFleur’s system, which clearly hasn’t been at a high standard during the team’s 3-4 start to the season. 

“We need to simplify our own game,” Rodgers said. “It’s not anything against the staff. Those guys put a lot of work into it. At some point the accountability has to fall on the players to go out and execute.”

Following the team’s Week 6 loss to the Jets, Rodgers mentioned that he trusts GM Brian Gutekunst and his staff, and hopes that if there is a trade to be made that the general manager will pull the trigger.

“I trust him and his staff; if they feel like they need to add that they will,” Rodgers said. “I think there’s enough on this team to be a successful team. There’s the possibility, if certain guys emerge, of us having a chance to make a run. I know Brian believes the same thing. But if there’s an opportunity, I would expect that Brian will be in the mix.”

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler says a few GMs he’s talked to are positive Green Bay are looking for help at wide receiver ahead of the trade deadline. 

One possibility Fowler thinks makes a lot of sense is Steelers WR Chase Claypool, who many inside the league thought was available late in the preseason, though Pittsburgh’s asking price was high. Claypool is currently in the third year of his four-year rookie contract. 

Other receivers that Fowler mentions in his piece as coming up in trade talks around the league, though not specifically connected to Green Bay, are Giants WR Darius Slayton, Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne, Jets WR Denzel Mims, Patriots WR Nelson Agholor and Saints WR Marquez Callaway.