With the first month of the season behind them, the Green Bay Packers are trying to find ways to become a legitimate contender in the NFC. Beating the teams they’re supposed to would go a long way toward achieving that goal, but it could also be enhanced by an addition or two ahead of the Nov. 4 trade deadline.
The Packers could use a couple of things in the coming weeks, including depth on the interior of the defensive line. But one of the most rumored moves has been whether or not they’re going to trade wide receiver Romeo Doubs.
While Doubs’s departure has been rumored all the way back to last offseason, he’s quickly become the No. 1 target in Green Bay’s receiver room. That development alone would signal that the Packers aren’t interested in trading him but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler suggests it could leave the grave mistake of signing him to a contract extension, “depending on how things shake out on the field.”
Packers Should Think Twice Before Extending Romeo Doubs
Doubs has been a popular trade candidate since Green Bay loaded up its receiver room this past offseason. The 25-year-old also missed time in training camp due to a back injury, but head coach Matt LaFleur gave him a vote of confidence as training camp came to a close, stating that he would be “very shocked” if Doubs were traded during an interview with FanDuel TV’s Kay Adams.
That vote of confidence helped Doubs have a strong start to the season with 13 catches for 179 yards and four touchdowns over his first four games, and it led Fowler to drop the first report that the Packers could be ready to extend the Nevada product after a three-touchdown performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4.
“The trade rumors surrounding Doubs…never made much sense,” Fowler wrote in an article on Oct. 1. “That conversation was understandable last season, when the team suspended Doubs for one game for missing practices for personal reasons. But the Packers have shown no interest in trading him, and my sense is they have more interest in potentially extending him.”
A team is going to do what it can to keep good players around. But it’s also a question as to whether that’s a good idea after how much the Packers have already invested into their receiver room.
Matthew Golden was the Packers' first receiver taken in the first round since Javon Walker in 2002 and is the future of the position. Savion Williams was taken two rounds later, and the Packers still have Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks under contract through the 2026 season. The room is set to be even more crowded when Christian Watson, who is also signed through 2026 after agreeing to a one-year extension last month, returns from injury.
Even if the Packers want to keep Doubs for his leadership, it would come at a steep price. Fowler admitted that the price could be somewhere near the four-year, $53 million contract extension that Khalil Shakir signed with the Buffalo Bills last offseason, and Spotrac estimates Doubs could command a four-year, $63.3 million contract when he becomes a free agent next offseason.
Mix in Doubs’s concussion history, and that’s a risky price to pay when the Packers already have receivers waiting in the wings. Unless Doubs goes crazy over the rest of the season, Green Bay would be massively overpaying to keep him around and should have second thoughts before giving him the bag.