Green Bay Packers: 2021 Uncertainty Leads to Quiet Trade Deadline

The Green Bay Packers were in on WR Will Fuller up until the trade deadline, but the uncertainty surrounding the 2021 offseason leads to no action.

For almost a week leading up to the NFL trade deadline, there had been growing reports about the Green Bay Packers’ interest in Houston Texans’ wide receiver Will Fuller. It started out as the Packers being one of several teams who called on Fuller, then transitioned to Ian Rapoport reporting over the weekend that Green Bay’s interest was going to “ramp up.”

Even the day of, there were plenty of reports suggesting that the two teams were in negotiations for much of the day. However, to the chagrin of many fans, no move was made as the trade deadline came and went.

Ultimately, the two teams couldn’t agree on compensation. Per Aaron Reiss of The Athletic ($), the Texans wouldn’t budge from their asking price of a second-round pick, and the Packers refused to offer higher than a fourth. In trade negotiations, there are always going to be a number of factors contributing to why a deal doesn’t go through, but in Green Bay’s case, the biggest reason that they didn’t go “all in” as many wanted them to was because of the uncertainty surrounding 2021.

As we are all well aware, Green Bay has several high-profile free agents to tend to this upcoming offseason. This group includes David Bakhtiari, Aaron Jones, Kevin King, and Corey Linsley. Even before COVID-19 hit, the Packers weren’t projected to have a ton of spendable cap space. Rather, their 2021 offseason spending would have likely looked very similar to what took place in 2020.

However, to make matters worse, with no fans in the stands and millions in revenue lost, there is the possibility that the salary cap could drop from $198.2 million down to $175 million in 2021, or anywhere in between. Over at Spotrac, they have a salary cap in 2021 of $181.9 million, which leaves Green Bay with just $3.87 million in available cap space.

This means that the Packers need to rollover as much unused cap space from 2020 as possible. Currently, they have $6.94 million in cap space, and had they acquired Fuller, he would have come with a cap hit of $5.38 million for the remainder of the season. It’s a move that could have been made but a move that would have put the Packers right up against the salary cap and left little to rollover to the upcoming year.

Also, while Fuller is having a career year, a second-round pick is a bit of a steep asking price. He’s in the final year of his deal, and considering the other free agents that the Packers have, he likely would have gone unsigned this offseason, making him an eight-game rental. It’s also worth noting that injuries have been a part of his career as well. In his first four seasons, he played in only 42 games out of a possible 64.

The odds are that the only “big” moves that the Green Bay Packers are going to make in free agency next offseason are the re-signing of one or two of their own free agents. Meaning, draft picks are going to be incredibly valuable, perhaps even more so than in year’s past—especially a second-round pick, which the Texans were adamant about getting in return.

In the end, another trade deadline passes without the Green Bay Packers upgrading the wide receiver position. Gutey has been true to his word, saying that he will be in on conversations, which he has, but he also isn’t going to overpay. And with there being so much uncertainty around the 2021 offseason in terms of the salary cap and free agency, perhaps he was more conservative than what he would have been in a normal year.