The Packers' window for pre-cutdown moves is open right now. Who can they land?

With cutdown day fast approaching, the Packers have little time to find out whether they can trade some of their excess talent to address some holes on the roster.

Less than a week remains before every roster in the NFL must reduce to 53 players. At this stage, few roster spots remain up for grabs, leaving most teams with talent they value but don't plan to keep past Tuesday. In these situations, some front offices take preemptive action.

The Carolina Panthers provided the latest such example. With only one preseason game left on the schedule, they already knew that 2024 seventh-round pick Michael Barrett would not make their initial 53-man roster. However, general manager Dan Morgan correctly surmised that the off-ball linebacker might appeal enough to another club to garner compensation.

At the same time, Morgan had other roster issues with which to contend. Dane Jackson, one of the Panthers' likely starters at cornerback, suffered a severe hamstring injury last week and will likely begin the regular season on injured reserve. With the free-agent pool all but drained, the GM looked for possible trade candidates to address the glaring hole in Carolina's secondary.

On Thursday, Morgan found a trade partner. The Seattle Seahawks had a veteran corner with ample starting experience to spare. They also had a new headman, Mike Macdonald, who coached the Barrett at Michigan in 2021. The two sides agreed to swap players, ostensibly improving both rosters without really sacrificing anything.

The Green Bay Packers currently find themselves in a similar situation. Though they won't admit it publicly, the vast majority of their 53-man roster has already taken shape as evidenced by the 31 players, most of them healthy, who the coaches held out of last week's preseason tilt with the Denver Broncos. That list doesn't even include names like Lukas Van Ness or Javon Bullard, recent first- and second-round picks who face no risk of missing the final cut. With limited exceptions, Green Bay already knows who will and won't survive cutdown day.

And like other teams, the Packers have more quality talent than they can retain. If the general manager Brian Gutekunst does nothing but let the final preseason game play out, he will expose several capable players to the waiver wire. A few will return as members of the practice squad, but most will depart.

Of course, the Packers could have other options. Like Carolina, they can ascertain which of their surplus players could draw interest from other clubs and pursue a pre-cutdown trade. Gutekunst has taken this path before, trading backup offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a late-round pick two years ago. However, Green Bay could also follow the Panthers' lead and seek out a player who addresses one of the team's weaknesses.

The window for such a move has already opened, and it might slam shut well before Tuesday's cutdown deadline. If the Packers want to take advantage, they'll need to determine which of their excess players hold value in the trade market, hone in on which areas of the roster could use additional support, and figure out who they can realistically acquire from another team.

Identifying Green Bay's tradeable players who could miss final cuts