A blockbuster Packers-Cardinals trade to fix Green Bay’s glaring weakness

How could you not be high on the Green Bay Packers heading into the 2024 season and beyond? Roughly 365 days ago, the questions were plentiful about what a post-Aaron Rodgers era would look like in the Frozen Tundra. But nowadays, Jordan Love has already established himself as a top-end quarterback in the NFL, backing that up with a playoff win in his first season as the starter.

And the Packers aren't letting their foot off of the gas this offseason either. The club has parted ways with some big names in Aaron Jones and David Bakhtiari, but has also brought in two hugely impactful free agency signings with safety Xavier McKinney and running back Josh Jacobs.

Who says they have to stop there, though?

There obviously still could be some more free agent signings coming for the Packers, and Green Bay has three picks in the Top 64 to further help the cause. But one blockbuster trade with the Arizona Cardinals could be an absolute show-stealer that fixes a big issues for the Pack.

Packers-Cardinals trade proposal sends Budda Baker to Green Bay

McKinney coming into the building for the Packers is a phenomenal first step to upgrade the safety room as the team moves on from Darnell Savage. But it also can't be the only move that Green Bay makes. Right now, McKinney is set to start with either 2023 seventh-rounder Anthony Johnson Jr. with few other options in the building.

So that's why Bleacher Report's Maurice Moton proposed a trade for the Packers and the Arizona Cardinals that would send safety Budda Baker to Green Bay. Moton noted that a "modest market for safeties" could mean a late-round draft pick could entice the Cardinals to hit the reset button by trading the 28-year-old.

My gut, however, tells me it might take a bit more than that, especially with the Cardinals stockpiling draft capital of late and with Baker being voted as a Pro Bowler five consecutive times. So here's the trade I'm proposing that could work for the Packers and Cardinals.

The Packers get the Cardinals' fifth-round pick -- early in the round -- back while sending Arizona another Top 100 selection and a seventh-rounder as a sweetener to take a flier at the end of the draft. That could behoove both parties in trying to facilitate this deal.

While sending a third-rounder isn't ideal for the Packers, having an extra pick by way of the Bills (which is the one they're sending in this trade) in the Rasul Douglas trade gives them a ton of flexibility to work with and make an aggressive trade such as this. It's also one that could pay huge dividends.

Both McKinney and Baker are extremely versatile in their abilities. While the latter has struggled in coverage in recent years, that has more to do with the secondary and lack of pass rush in Arizona than with the player, who has remained a stud. But pairing him in the Green Bay secondary, a unit that has struggled to stay healthy at cornerback, could be massively important. It would offer the group a ton of movability, take pressure off of Baker from his Cardinals day, and set up Jeff Hafley's defense.

Will it happen? It's just an idea at this point. Given what it could mean for the Packers and the flexibility they have to move, though, it's a good enough idea that it probably needs to happen.