Packers sell at trade deadline, signaling rebuild they insisted wasn't happening

The Packers traded veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas and a fifth-round pick to the Bills for a third-round selection.

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David Bakhtiari was right.

Back in August, the All-Pro left tackle suggested the Green Bay Packers were rebuilding even if they didn’t know it. The head coach and general manager said everything they could to diffuse this notion. They were trying to win and believed in Jordan Love and this young roster, the greenest in the league (without the gold for now).

Standing at 2-5 with a slew of disappointing losses at the trade deadline, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst sold rather than bought. He sent veteran corner Rasul Douglas, the most consistent player on an otherwise disappointing defense, and a fifth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for a third-round selection. The move signals what Green Bay’s leadership previously insisted against: a rebuild.

The 2023 Packers wanted to win. Institutionally, they believed they would be better. They just … weren’t. Sloppy penalties, wrong routes, missed blocks, passive schemes, and conservative decision-making left Green Bay with few options.

Personally, this author would have kept the good player on a cheap contract, one of the few guys on the roster who plays like he gives a shit with any sort of regularity. But the pick coming back to the Packers gives them five total in the top 100 in the upcoming draft.

Already the youngest team in the league with a product on the field that reflects their inexperience, the Packers leaned into the skid, an appropriate metaphor for the first snow of the winter in Wisconsin.

Green Bay wasn’t making the playoffs barring a historic comeback. Selling makes some practical sense from an asset management standpoint, but it debilitates an already bereft leadership group in the locker room. For a team that already struggled to put a supporting cast around Jordan Love, management is either content giving Love another season or punting on him altogether, understanding the worse they are the more likely it will be they can grab a QB prospect like Caleb Williams or Drake Maye.

When you’re trying to win a race to the bottom with the Chicago Bears, you lose no matter what. Hopefully, that’s not the goal at 1265 Lombardi Ave.