The Green Bay Packers are reportedly considering raiding their division rivals for talent by signing RB Matt Forte and TE Martellus Bennett.
It’s not very often that NFL teams with Super Bowl aspirations consider looking at their lesser division rivals to find the pieces that might put them over the top, but that might be what the Green Bay Packers are thinking about doing. Reports are circulating that the Pack is going to dip into the NFL free agency pool to sign two members of the Chicago Bears to give Aaron Rodgers some more targets.
Leave it to the most connected man in the NFL rumor mill to stoke this particular fire. ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter first cited a source saying the Pack was kicking the tires on Forte.
Packers expressing interest in Bears free-agent RB Matt Forte, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2016
Schefter’s colleague Ed Werder has reportedly followed up with his own bit linking Bennett to the Packers as well.
As strange as it might seem for a 10-6 team to pick the corpse of a bottom-dwelling rival, both players would be logical additions to a Green Bay offense that struggled at times last season without Jordy Nelson. Leading receiver James Jones is a free agent and might not be back, Randall Cobb had a down year and Davante Adams seemed to regress in 2015.
If a healthy Nelson stabilizes the WR corps, both Bears could help the passing game in other ways. Forte will be 31 this fall, an age when running backs can fall off quickly, but he’s always been a top notch receiving back and would be perfectly suited for spelling Eddie Lacy on third downs — or handling an even bigger workload if Lacy doesn’t get his act together.
Bennett isn’t even 29, and while he had injuries in 2015, he’s just one season removed from catching 90 passes and six touchdowns. He could team with Richard Rodgers to give the Pack two legitimate pass-catching threats in two TE sets.
Green Bay has plenty of its own unrestricted free agents, but if they came at the right price, Forte and Bennett could slot in nicely for James Starks and Andrew Quarless. Maybe pursuing players from your beaten down arch-enemies isn’t so crazy after all.