At NFL Trade Deadline, Packers’ Brian Gutekunst Was Winner

Posted by author January 27, 2025 NFL

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Two days before the NFL trade deadline, the Green Bay Packers were trounced 24-14 by the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field.

The Packers were 6-3 – 4-0 against the AFC South, 0-3 against the teams that had emerged as the best in the NFC – and looked like a team that needed a boost.

With Jaire Alexander out with a knee injury and Eric Stokes’ career stuck in neutral, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst should have been in the market for a cornerback. With the New Orleans Saints going nowhere fast, four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marshon Lattimore was available.

Ultimately, the only move Gutekunst made was trading Preston Smith to the Steelers for a seventh-round pick.

“It’s not a store you can go in and pick and choose,” Gutekunst said at the time. “Those guys have got to be available and there just wasn’t a ton available this year. We always look at a lot of things, have some conversations, talk to people, but not a lot materialized this year.”

Several trades were made at the deadline but only two looked significant.

The Detroit Lions sent fifth- and sixth-round picks to Cleveland to acquire former Packers pass rusher Za’Darius Smith.

And the Washington Commanders packaged third-, fourth- and sixth-round draft picks to acquire Lattimore and a fifth-round pick from the Saints.

The Lions, who badly needed to upgrade their pass rush following Aidan Hutchinson’s broken leg, received four sacks in eight games from Smith. In approximately a half-season with the Lions, Smith had 36 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. Over the course of the full season, only Rashan Gary (47) had more among all of Green Bay’s defensive linemen.

However, in the 45-31 playoff loss to the Commanders, Smith didn’t have a single tackle in 40 snaps.

For the relatively hefty price tag of a couple midround draft picks, Lattimore was a wild swing and a miss by the Commanders and their general manager, Adam Peters, who delivered an incredible one-year turnaround.

First, they had to wait for Lattimore to get healthy following a hamstring injury. When he finally played, he was not the lockdown corner they needed.

Lattimore wound up playing in two regular-season games and all three playoff games. He broke up three passes in Week 16 against the Eagles – Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts missed most of the game with a concussion – but was tormented in the rematch in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.

After giving up a touchdown in the playoff win at Tampa Bay and not allowing a catch in the upset win at Detroit, Lattimore allowed 4-of-6 passing for 88 yards against the Eagles, according to Pro Football Focus, with completions of 20-plus yards to receiver A.J. Brown, receiver DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert.

Plus, he was flagged for pass interference in the end zone on third-and-13 to set up a 1-yard touchdown. Moments later, he was flagged for unnecessary roughness, as well.

Cornerback seemed like a significant position of need for the Packers, dating to last year’s free agency and draft. Even though Alexander missed 10 games, including critical late-season losses to the Lions and Vikings and the playoff game against the Eagles, cornerback turned out to be the least of Green Bay’s problems.

The Packers finished ninth in opponent passer rating during the regular season and shut down Hurts, Brown and Smith in the playoffs.

Imagine if Gutekunst would have given the Saints the same trade package as the Commanders did for Lattimore. They almost certainly would have been one-and-done in the playoffs, anyway, and then entered this year’s draft without third- and fourth-round draft picks.

They would have had Lattimore under contract through 2026, though with base salaries of $16.0 million and $16.5 million the next two years.

“We want him to be a Commander for a long time,” Peters told The Washington Post in December.

Not unlike Alexander, Lattimore’s injury history is troubling. The combination of injuries and salary probably factored in Gutekunst’s decision. After earning Pro Bowl honors in four of his first five seasons, he played in seven games in 2022, 10 games in 2023 and nine games in 2024.

For the Packers, Alexander and Stokes were the primary cornerbacks for Week 1 against the Eagles. In the playoff rematch, with Alexander on injured reserve and Stokes having lost his role, they played a combined one snap.

Now, with Alexander’s future with the team in doubt and Stokes headed to free agency, cornerback once again seems like a big need.

“I thought when we moved Keisean to the outside and he consistently played there, I thought he played really, really well,” Gutekunst said at the end of the season. “Not only in coverage but as a tackler, as well, and run game. When CV (Carrington Valentine) went out there, I think when both those guys were playing on the outside consistently, we just got more stable with Bull (Javon Bullard) inside and those two guys outside. That stability I think really helped us down the stretch.

“We do have some free agents coming up, so we’re going to need numbers and kind of just see where that room goes. Then, obviously, Ja will impact that, as well. We’ll just kind of see how all that goes. CV fought through some injuries, came back and really helped us at the end of the season. And then Keisean being able to solidify us as an outside corner, where he had always played inside for most of his career, I think he certainly has proved that he can play out there at a high level.”

The trade deadline was Nov 5. Nine players were traded on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5. Other than Lattimore, only one player won one playoff game: The Ravens acquired backup cornerback Tre’Davious White in a swap of seventh-round picks. Four players did not reach the playoffs.

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