Green Bay Packers fans were hoping to see an active trade deadline on Tuesday. After the season-ending injury to tight end Tucker Kraft, the hope was for the Packers to find quarterback Jordan Love a bit more help, either with another TE or a wideout.
In a season defined by inconsistency, giving the offense and Love specifically a boost appeared to be an obvious decision. Instead, the Packers remained silent, and the offense remains the same heading into an important Monday Night Football matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
For Love, this is unquestionably disheartening, coming off a rough loss to the Carolina Panthers. It is the second game this season where it seemed the Packers' offense simply forgot to show up, as well as the fact that their top weapon is now lost for the year.
Now, the quarterback finds himself entering the season's second half without Kraft and the same question marks at receiver.
Jordan Love Is Packers' Biggest Trade Deadline Loser
It isn't as if the Packers don't have talent at the position, but rather a lack of consistently knowing who the primary target is. No team has a better collective group of secondary pass catchers who are simply a step short of being an elite primary target. Kraft (489), Romeo Doubs (441), and the recently banged-up Matthew Golden (262) are the only Green Bay pass-catchers to surpass 200 yards, with everyone else being invisible more often than not.
Failing to add a legitimate playmaker only makes Love's life harder while also further frustrating a fan base that was begging for help. When you spent two first-round picks on Micah Parsons in the summer, this was a signal that the Packers were going to make a Super Bowl push and do everything possible to compete. Now, it is easy to argue that both the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles are ahead of the Packers when it comes to current rostered talent.
Adding a target to replace Kraft changes (or at least helping to fill the void by committee) would've given Love a chance to return to the form he was in during the first weeks of the season, which saw him throw multiple touchdowns three times in four games. He's since accomplished the feat just once since Week 5.
It'll be interesting to see if the Packers' failure to help Love will hurt the team in the long run. Finding a perfect Kraft replacement may not have been possible, but it's clear that the front office didn't try, and if that decision blows up in their face, they only have themselves to blame.