It's a tale as old as time — a veteran player on a losing team gets frustrated with their situation, and trade talks begin to swirl. Sometimes it's all just smoke and mirrors, and other times, the situation moves faster than anyone expected, and all of a sudden, a star is on a new team. All too often, the Green Bay Packers are thrown around in these talks, but in the case of DeForest Buckner, there's substantial reason to believe it's real.
Green Bay's defensive line is on the rise, between Dani Dennis-Sutton and Lukas Van Ness emerging as two powerhouses, to the impending return of Micah Parsons on the edge. With Javon Hargrave out for the season, followed by Jonathan Ford and Warren Brinson on IR, the defensive line could use some help right now to help the Packers jump from a solid pass rush to an elite defensive front.
Buckner, now in his 11th year as a pro and seventh with the Indianapolis Colts, is becoming one of the biggest names being thrown around in trade talks, and multiple sources, including Easton Butler and Tyler Brooke, have reason to believe Green Bay's front office has made a call about the talented vet.
Ultimately, if the Packers are in on the Buckner sweepstakes, it says a lot more about the team's intentions for the rest of the season than it does about the player himself.
If the Green Bay Packers are willing to take on a pricey veteran like DeForest Buckner, they're entering the 'Super Bowl-or-Bust' zone.
In the final year of his current contract, Buckner is making $13 million in base salary with an overall $26.6 million cap hit. The expectation is that a portion of that has already been paid out through signing and roster bonuses, but there's still a pretty penny left to be paid.
Buckner has been worth the cost, posting the sixth-highest score in Pro Football Network's DT Impact Rating this year. So while the reported second-round pick that Indianapolis is asking for is a bit expensive for a veteran on an expiring contract, the Packers' interest alone is worth noting.
If the Packers genuinely want to go all-in on a veteran pass-rusher like Buckner, it signals that they're in a win-now mentality like we haven't seen yet this year. Green Bay has been strategic, building for the long haul and integrating cost-controlled talent with a high-quality young roster through the offseason into the early stretch of the regular season.
But going after someone like DeForest Buckner shows that the Packers are ready to contend right now — or at least, they believe they are. And that level of confidence and aggression is something Packers fans should celebrate as their team battles for supremacy over a harsh NFC North landscape, because it shows they believe they're ready to contend for a Super Bowl.
And that's the first step in actually winning a Super Bowl.
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