4 Trade up scenarios for Green Bay Packers in 2023 NFL Draft

The Green Bay Packers have a history of trading up early on in the NFL Draft under Brian Gutekunst. Believe it or not, they’ve actually done so every year that he has been the general manager.

During his first draft in 2018, after Green Bay traded back to pick 27, they then jumped to pick 18 to select Jaire Alexander. In 2019, with their second first-round pick, the Packers moved up to take Darnell Savage. They then moved up in round one the following year to take Jordan Love and then in round three during the 2021 draft to select Amari Rodgers. Most recently, the Packers moved up early in the second round to select Christian Watson.

However, as I wrote recently, if there is a year where I believe that trend is going to come to an end, it’s this one. You can read more here, but in short, there are two reasons why I expect the Packers to either stay put at pick 15 or even trade down.

One is that they have a number of positions to fill. This isn’t a team that is one impact player away from a Super Bowl. Instead, Green Bay is short on depth at wide receiver, tight end, and the interior defensive line, not to mention they could use more help at edge rusher and safety. The other reason is that even looking ahead to 2024, the Packers’ salary cap will still be feeling the effects of the previous few off-seasons. To help remedy this, they need as many inexpensive rookie deals on the books as they can get.

While those were my main reasons, another is that this isn’t a draft class that features a number of players that the Packers should be trying to trade up for. If we look at positions that Green Bay could address in the first round, tight end, edge rusher, offensive tackle, cornerback, and interior defensive lineman, all have solid depth within the first two or three rounds of the draft–which makes moving up to get a high-quality player not much of a necessity.

Now, if there were one player that I could see the Packers moving up for, it would be Jaxon Smith-Njigba from Ohio State. He would be an immediate high-impact player, is considered by many the best receiver in this draft class, and fits Green Bay’s usually strict thresholds at the position. Although it’s been years since the Packers have drafted a first-round wide receiver, Gutekunst did reportedly try to move up for Justin Jefferson and Brandon Aiyuk, while he also tried to trade back into the first round of last year’s draft to select Watson.

Again, this isn’t the route that I expect Green Bay to go, but there is a history of doing so under Gutekunst. Using the Rick Hill trade value chart, which assigns a numeric value to each draft pick, helping to quantify the trade, here is a closer look at four trade-up scenarios and what type of draft capital the Packers would have to possibly give up.

Just like with my trading down version of this article, my goal was to get the picks that were swapped as close to equal in value as possible. I’m also not implying that any of the four teams in these trade scenarios would even want to move down, but rather are using them as examples of what draft capital the Packers may have to part with if they intend to be on the move.

Trade up to pick 12 with Houston

Packers receive: pick 12

Packers give up: picks 15, 116 (Round 4), and 170 (Round 5)

Trade up to pick 10 with Philadelphia

Packers receive: picks 10, 219 (Round 7), and 248 (Round 7)

Packers give up: picks 15 and 78 (Round 3)

Note: with the Eagles not having any picks in rounds four, five, or six, it took some extra maneuvering to make this trade work, which is why the Packers received two seventh-round picks in return.

Trade up to pick 8 with Atlanta

Packers receive: picks 8 and 224 (Round 7)

Packers give up: picks 15, 78 (Round 3), 116 (Round 4), and 170 (Round 5)

Trade up to pick 5 with Seattle

Packers receive: picks 5 and 198 (Round 6)

Packers give up: picks 15, 45 (Round 2), and 116 (Round 4)

Quick Thoughts

– The outlook of this year’s Packers team is obviously different from years past. Of course, Green Bay still wants to win, and their goal should be to put the best team that they can around Jordan Love to truly evaluate his abilities. But with that said, this team is in a transition and not going all in for a Super Bowl push. They need to be accumulating draft picks in the middle rounds, not giving them away.

– Speaking of the middle rounds, quality starters can still be found in that portion of the draft, and as I just laid out, moving up in each of these scenarios often requires the Packers to part with a few of those picks.

– As mentioned above, although the Packers have an extensive history of trading up under Gutekunst, I would say they are still in uncharted waters this year. None of those aforementioned trades have come at this stage of the draft, where Green Bay could enter the top 10, and to do so comes with a hefty asking price.

– Trading up is for teams that either believe they are one player away from being a true contender or those searching for a quarterback. The Packers are neither.

– For a brief moment, I’ll entertain the idea of trading up. If the Packers were to make that trade, that jump up the draft board probably maxes out at two to three spots.