Green Bay Packers 2021 NFL Draft: Trading Up & What it Will Cost

Under Brian Gutekunst, the Green Bay Packers have been very aggressive in the first round of the NFL Draft, moving up all three years to go and get their guy.

In 2018, the Packers would initially move back from pick 14 to 27 with New Orleans, only then to move up to 18 to take Jaire Alexander. Then in 2019, they would move from pick 30 to pick 21 to take Darnell Savage. And as you all remember, last year Green Bay would move from pick 30 to pick 26 to take Jordan Love.

Given how deep this draft class is at wide receiver, cornerback, and offensive tackle — all positions of need for the Packers — you could make a strong argument for trading down. However, on the flip side, with many in this year’s class having opted out of the 2020 season and many events done virtually, NFL teams don’t have the same information that they typically do, which could lead to some being more aggressive early on, in an attempt to land a premium player, who they are confident with in their evaluations.

Ultimately, there is no way to know what will take place, and we will have to see how things unfold. And the same goes for the Packers to some extent, with how the board falls on draft night being the ultimate variable in all of this. But I believe it’s safe to say that it’s very much in play for Green Bay to move up.

If the Packers do decide to make that move, I don’t see them jumping into the teens, and pick 20 is held by Chicago, so that isn’t going to happen either. But beginning at pick 21 with Indianapolis is where we could see a deal worked out–in fact, a trade with the Colts makes a lot of sense for both teams.

So using the 2021 NFL Draft trade value chart as my guide, I’ve put together trade packages for picks 21 through 27 to help provide an idea of what the Green Bay Packers would have to give up if they hope to move up the draft board–and no, not every one of these teams is going to be interested in trading down, but some certainly will.

If you’re unfamiliar with the trade value chart, I wrote an article about it recently, which you can find here, or see the tweet below. In short, the chart was created by Jimmy Johnson and assigns a numeric value to each draft pick to quantitatively see if the value a team is giving up in the draft is equal — or close to — what they are getting in return.

Now, let’s see what draft capital the Packers have to part with to move up for their guy.

Trade with Indianapolis for pick 21

Packers receive: pick 21

Packers give up: Picks 29, 92, and 173

Quick Thought: In 2019, the Packers moved from pick 30 to pick 21, giving up two fourth-rounders. However, this year with both of their fourth-round picks being on the back-end of the round, that doesn’t get the job done — or at least not on the chart — and they have to part with a third.

Trade with Tennessee for pick 22

Packers receive: pick 22

Packers give up: Picks 29, 92, and 178

Quick Thought: Third-round picks can still hold quite a bit of value; those players are oftentimes still immediate impact players and potential starters. But to move into the low-20s, the Packers will have to part with theirs.

Trade with New York Jets for pick 23

Packers receive: pick 23

Packers give up: Picks 29, 135, 142, and 178

Quick Thought: Admittedly, it might take a third-round pick to get this done, but the math works out this way as well, and if I’m the Packers, I want to do everything in my power to hold on to that top-100 pick.

Trade with Pittsburgh Steelers at pick 24

Packers receive: Pick 24

Packers give up: Picks 29, 135, and 178

Quick Thought: This is the first trade where the Packers’ third-rounder really isn’t in play anymore, or if it is, they’ll need something else in return–most likely a late Day 3 pick. But why would you do that?

Trade with Jacksonville Jaguars at pick 25

Packers receive: Pick 25

Packers give up: Picks 29, 135, and 173

Quick Thought: To move to pick 25, the Packers only have to part with one of their fourth-round picks, instead of both, and still have fifth-rounder left as well.

Trade with Cleveland Browns at pick 26

Packers receive: Pick 26

Packers give up: Pick 29 and 135

Quick Thought: At this point, the Packers believe that either the Ravens or the Saints would take the player that they are interested in and want to make sure that they get their pick in before them.

Trade with Baltimore Ravens for pick 27

Packers receive: Pick 27

Packers give up: Picks 29, 173, and 214

Quick Thought: Again, the Packers are making this move only if they really believe that the Saints could take the player that they want, and there are no other options with Round 1 grades left at this point on their board. A similar situation is what prompted the move up for Jordan Love in last year’s draft.

Coming up, I’ll be doing a similar article but putting together trade packages for the Packers if they decide to trade back and out of the first round.