Falling into a routine and repeating it is extremely common. For many, it can be a source of comfort. When it comes to Green Bay Packers fans and the trade deadline, the opposite is true.
With the deadline approaching the Packers will, despite the circumstances, go down the same path they have so many times before. The conclusion is as predictable as it is every year — they will be rumored for some big names on the trade market and ultimately end up with nothing.
Remember in 2021 when they were supposedly the frontrunners to land cornerback Stephon Gilmore? Jaire Alexander had already gone down with a significant injury and Kevin King was not the solution. Gilmore was on the block, and all signs pointed to Green Bay being the destination — until they weren’t.
The same narratives were then launched at the fan base with the hopes of sticking. Green Bay had “explored” the trade heavily and “made a fair trade offer” only to fall short.
Although not a trade situation, last season Odell Beckham Jr. was heavily tied to the Green and Gold in rumors only to go to the Los Angeles Rams and end up hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
I know what you’re thinking. “This year is different. This team needs someone way more than they ever have and Aaron Rodgers is being extremely vocal. I mean, he even went on McAfee and said he expected the team to be active, that’s got to mean something right?”
Nonsense. Rodgers has pleaded in years past for the team to be active at the deadline or even in free agency only for Green Bay to sit on their thumbs.
I know everyone’s tired of talking about it, but it’s very easy to take this offseason for example.
Davante Adams, an all-world wide receiver, gets his wish of being traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. Green Bay’s No. 2 wideout, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, signs with the Kansas City Chiefs.
It would make all the sense in the world for Green Bay to have been aggressive filling the obvious gap at wideout. Instead, they signed injury-prone Sammy Watkins, who’s already on injured reserve, opted to not draft a wide receiver in the first round with either of its two picks, and rolled the dice on Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb and Rodgers making magic out of nothing.
Egg on face.
Why would the deadline be any different?
And although this is a Gutekunst thing, it’s not just a Gutekunst thing. Over the last 30 years, the Packers organization has made it very clear they don’t do three things: sign big-name free agents, trade for big-name stars, or draft first-round wide receivers.
And the infuriating part is how well it works when they break their own rules. Reggie White signs in Green Bay — Super Bowl. Charles Woodson comes to Green Bay — Super Bowl. Yet here we sit with an organization so up its own a!@ about its ability to produce homegrown talent that it can’t see the right path.
Ted Thompson’s belief in his own system was the Packers’ worst enemy during Aaron Rodgers’ prime. One could argue that winning the Super Bowl with so many backups and Thompson receiving such credit for being a draft guru led to years of ineptitude because he believed in his system as opposed to going out and getting a player or two that could’ve gotten a team over the hump.
Now Gutekunst seems so intent on walking both sides of the “all in” line that he might be accomplishing neither. He’s so focused on the future while trying to build for right now that I don’t think he can understand what it actually takes to build for right now.
It was well known that the Packers were all in for last year and the year before that only to fall short. Maybe trading for a Gilmore or an OBJ wouldn’t have made a sizable difference but Green Bay will never know because like they’ve done for decades now, they didn’t pony up and pull the trigger.
Now we sit and watch and wait and discuss names like D.J. Moore, Chase Claypool, Darius Slayton, OBJ, and any other partially disgruntled receiver in the league. They’re not coming. The team will tell you they did their best, but they never do. Don’t fool yourself. Green Bay isn’t trading for anyone.
