A season ago, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was selling at the NFL trade deadline. He traded away cornerback Rasul Douglas to the Buffalo Bills and got draft picks back in the trade. There are times in business also when it is better not to make a deal instead of making a deal for the sake of making one.
One of the more shocking moments with the Green Bay Packers was back in 2022 when they traded away wide receiver Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders for draft picks. This was before the 2022 season began. Adams was traded because he wasn’t sure if Aaron Rodgers was going to come back to the Packers after the 2022 season.
Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets in 2023 before the 2023 season in a blockbuster trade. This opened the door for Jordan Love to be the full-time quarterback.
The Green Bay Packers Almost Traded For Darren Waller On the Las Vegas Raiders During the 2022 Offseason Before the 2022 Season Began
Wendell Ferreira of A to Z Sports talked about how the Green Bay Packers almost traded for tight end Darren Waller in the 2022 off-season before the 2022 season began. Waller was a former sixth-round draft pick back in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.
Ferreira said about the Green Bay Packers almost trading for Darren Waller:
“In 2022, when Davante Adams informed the Packers he wanted to play for the Las Vegas Raiders, Brian Gutekunst and then Raiders GM Dave Ziegler started talks about a deal. Reportedly, the Packers would have closed the deal for a first-round pick and tight end Darren Waller.
However, Adams was under the franchise tag. And for tag-and-trade type of deals, other players can’t be involved. So the Raiders kept Waller and ended up sending the Packers first- and second-round picks.
The Packers used that extra second-round pick to move up in the draft and select wide receiver Christian Watson. Since that, Watson has suffered with injuries, but he is still more productive and cheaper. He’s had 69 receptions for 1,033 receiving yards and 14 scrimmage touchdowns.
Waller played a year for the Raiders with 388 yards and three touchdowns before being finally traded for a third-round pick. In a season for the New York Giants, he had 52 receptions for 552 yards and a touchdown — and now he’s expected to retire from the NFL.
The Packers even considered Waller in the middle of the 2022 season, but they weren’t able to find a new deal with the Raiders.”
The New York Giants are expecting Waller to retire from the NFL. New York acquired him in a trade last offseason and he was hurt for part of the season. Darren Waller is 31 years old. The Green Bay Packers are in much better hands now at the tight end position with Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave.
It would have been a disaster if the Green Bay Packers made that trade then. As they say, everything happens for a reason. They would not be the team they are today if they had made that deal.
