3 Packers who shouldn’t be on the Green Bay roster after the NFL trade deadline
The Green Bay Packers have the chance to put together a special season this year.
Jordan Love often looks more like an MVP candidate than anything else and Jayden Reed is experiencing quite the breakout year. The Love to Reed connection has been out in full force early this year. Josh Jacobs provides a stable, downhill runner in the backfield with Love. Tucker Kraft and the rest of the wide receiver core has been excellent as well.
On defense, Xavier McKinney has stepped up big time with his splash play ability. The PAckers defense hasn't been the best unit in the league, but they have been good enough to help Green Bay win games.
However, the Packers roster, specifically their offense, could look much different in a month or two than what it looks like right now. Whether it's trades or acquiring players back from the IR, Green Bay has some improving to do.
Here are three players that shouldn't be on the Packers roster after the trade deadline.
3. TE John Fitzpatrick
John Fitzpatrick is the third tight end of Green Bay's depth chart and I would say that he's third by quite a wide margin. Fitzpatrick is the only Green Bay tight end that hasn't made a catch in a regular season game this year, with Kraft recording 18 catches, Sims recording 2 catches and Musgrave recording 5 catches.
But NFL teams typically carry three or even four tight ends on their active roster. Tight end is such a physical position that requires a player to engage in a lot of contact. A lot of teams use two or three tight end sets in their jumbo packages as well. With Luke Musgrave on the IR with an ankle injury, Fitzpatrick has found himself on the active roster.
But Fitzpatrick will likely find him time in Green Bay, at least on the active roster, come to an end whenever Musgrave returns. While Musgrave is still expected to miss a few more weeks, he is expected to be back in about a month, unless something drastic changes. Once Musgrave returns, Fitzpatrick will be the player that ends up off the roster, without a doubt.
2. RB Chris Brooks
Chris Brooks is going to run into a very, very similar problem as John Fitzpatrick above. Just like Fitzpatrick, Brooks is at the bottom of the depth chart at his position and he sits at that spot by a wide margin. Obviously, Josh Jacobs is the team's RB1 and he gets a bulk of the carries. More than half the team's carries have been handled by Jacobs. Emanuel Wilson is the team's RB2. He's second on the team with 42 carries for 210 yards, good for five yards per carry. But Wilson is only RB2 because of the injury to Marshawn Lloyd.
Lloyd is expected to return from the IR over the next couple of weeks. Green Bay is very high on the 23 year old power running back from USC. Coach LaFleur did add some context to his injury, stating that Lloyd isn't yet ready to return to practice though.
But when he does return, it'll mean the end of Brooks' time with the Packers, but everybody should see this coming. Brooks has fewer carries than Malik Willis, Jordan Love and Jayden Reed this season. There's no feasible reason why Brooks would remain on the active roster when Lloyd is back and healthy.
1. WR Bo Melton
Bo Melton is way too talented to be wasting away on the end of Green Bay's bench, but you can't really blame Matt LaFleur and the Packers for that. Green Bay may have the single most talented receiving core in the league from top to bottom. They may not have a Justin Jefferson or Tyreek Hill, though Reed is breaking out this year, but from Reed to Melton, their unit is loaded with talent. But it's loaded to the point that Green Bay is wasting Melton by not using him.
Melton isn't on this list for the same reason as Brooks or Fitzpatrick. It has nothing to do with his talent not being enough to play in Green Bay. In fact, his talent is so impressive that he would garner quite a bit of attention from other teams if Green Bay made him available in trades. Teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington Commanders and Kansas City Chiefs could all use a young receiver with the talent of Bo Melton.
To this point, Green Bay hasn't indicated a desire to move him, but I think that they should at least field offers for him. Teams would bite and adding some draft capital or a defensive player in exchange for Melton would make a ton of sense for the Packers.