The trade deadline came and went on Tuesday, but not without all of Packers nation spending the day fervently checking their phones for news on an aquisition. People across the NFL world, Aaron Rodgers included, expected Green Bay to trade for a wide receiver. But Brian Gutekunst kept true to form, and let the deadline pass, choosing instead to stand pat. To his credit, the Packers reportedly offered the same compensation as Chicago for Chase Claypool. But the bigger problem is, the way things currently stand, a last ditch trade is too little too late for Green Bay.
Gutekunst has shown that he will prioritize his own draft picks over outside guys. So it’s no surprise that he is pretty unwilling to surrender serious draft capital for short-term fixes at this point. But the problem is that a number of those draft picks just haven’t played to the level the team has needed them to this season. With the amount of talent the Packers lost this offseason, they were going to need a lot of internal development just to come close to their roster from the last few seasons.
Whether it’s Darnell Savage, Royce Newman, or Eric Stokes, they all were expected to make a leap and play serious roles on this season’s team. But Savage has been one of the statistically worst safeties in the league. He ranks 136th in coverage and 122nd in tackling among safeties per PFF. And Newman has been bad enough to have already been benched – the 75th guard in PFF’s pass blocking grade. He has shown no improvement handling stunts or anchoring against bull rushers, the same issues he had a season ago. And Stokes has also been poor enough to get yanked. He’s allowed a passer rating of 125.8, and has failed to record a single pass break-up or interception.
The other side of the coin has been the regression among their veteran signings. Rasul Douglas finished 2021 with 5 interceptions and a passer rating against of 46.3. This season, he didn’t record his first interception until this past Sunday, and for the season is allowing a passer rating of 85. And Campbell has already missed 10 tackles this season, after going all of 2021 with only 4. After having been average players throughout most of the careers, it’s only fair to wonder now if Gutekunst overpaid for a couple one hit wonders.
And to top it all off, the Packers are already seeing the result of their lack of depth in many key areas. Wide receiver is the obvious – with Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Sammy Watkins, and Christian Watson all missing time. But their concerns in the secondary was clear even before the season started.
When it’s all said and done, the outrage at Gutekunst for failing to make a move at the deadline seem a little misguided. As the figurehead of the Packers front office, the blame will surely go his direction. And some of that is deserved – he’s far from perfect. But the personnel has to take theirs too. And there are far too many important players who have failed to live up to expectations.
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Jared is a rogue Packers fan from a Steelers family and an overall football junkie, including playing 4 years at Ithaca College. You can follow him on twitter at @JPrugar.
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