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Packers need help at position, but cost of trade may be too high
By Pete Dougherty
pdougher@greenbaypressgazette.com
Before the salary cap, the Green Bay Packers might have had a decent chance at upgrading their receiver corps in a meaningful way once training camp opened.
But the chances in today's NFL appear remote.
For several reasons, the cap has made player-for-player deals almost obsolete, and draft picks are more valuable than ever to replenish talent thinned by free agency and provide bargain-priced labor.
So, even though the Oakland Raiders appear willing to trade perpetually disgruntled receiver Jerry Porter, and the Packers need playmakers at that position, a deal appears unlikely unless the Raiders drop their asking price significantly. They reportedly are looking for at least a first-round draft pick, and it's hard to see the Packers giving up more than a fourth-round pick for him, or perhaps a third.
"I don't know what's really on (the Raiders') minds, but I know they want a big-time pick," said Reggie McKenzie, the Packers' director of pro personnel.
The chances of the Packers making a deal during training camp probably are slim because Ted Thompson is more philosophically opposed to trading picks than most general managers in the league.
Thompson has traded a pick straight up for a player in the past as Seattle's vice president of football operations, but only twice in five years. He traded a sixth-round draft pick to New Orleans for defensive tackle Norman Hand, and a seventh-round pick for Oakland receiver Jerry Rice.
More than his mentor, former Packers GM Ron Wolf, Thompson is averse to trading picks.
Wolf made eight trades in which he gave a draft pick straight up for a player in the summer or early in the regular season: He acquired guard Doug Widell for a seventh-round pick in 1993; receiver Charles Jordan for a fifth-rounder in 1994; tackle Lindsay Knapp for a fifth-rounder and tackle Joe Sims for a sixth-rounder in '95; defensive end Paul Frase for a sixth-rounder in '96; running back Darick Holmes for a fourth-rounder in '98; linebacker Nate Wayne for a seventh-rounder in '99; and return man Allen Rossum for a fifth-rounder in 2000.
"Ron wasn't afraid to trade picks for players if he could find the right player, and I'm not either," Thompson said Tuesday. "But I do believe that draft picks, both your ability to draft in the future and the ones you have now, are very valuable to the future of your organization."
Wolf said as his time working with the salary cap went on — the cap started in 1994 — he became more reluctant to trade picks. He considered them necessary to replace departed free agents and as a source of cheap labor to stay under the cap after paying big money to core veterans.
"I don't think he learned that from me," said Wolf of Thompson's aversion to trading picks. "The point is, and I think I mentioned this back in '98 or '99, all of a sudden, draft choices became like gold bars. You have to retain those draft choices and you have to get as many as you possibly can."
Barring an unusual circumstance, such as in the 2003 season when defensive tackle Grady Jackson fell to them like a gift off the waiver wires, the Packers will go into the regular season with the players on their roster. That includes at receiver, where in the offseason Thompson took a calculated risk that some combination of previously disappointing veterans Robert Ferguson and Rod Gardner, as well as second-round draft pick Greg Jennings, would provide enough playmaking for a decent passing game.
Through five days of camp, no receiver has jumped out as a weapon to complement Donald Driver, and the rookie Jennings arguably has been their second-best option. Gardner missed the first two days of camp because of a pulled hamstring and was a non-factor the next two days, though in Tuesday's short, non-padded practice he made a leaping touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone in an 11-on-11 drill.
Regardless, until one or more of those players produces regularly in games, there's reason to question whether the Packers have enough offensive punch to improve on last year's 4-12 record.
"I'm not worried, but I'm anxious to see what our guys can do," McKenzie said. "I'm anxious to see all the running backs, I'm anxious to see all the tight ends, I'm waiting to see the receivers step up. Talent wise — we just don't have the experienced guys that are Pro Bowl receivers. Everybody's looking for these Pro Bowl receivers; we don't have guys that have been to the Pro Bowl (other than Driver). But we still think we're pretty good."
The Packers are one of several teams in the market for a receiver, along with Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Jacksonville.
Porter, 28, was a second-round pick in 2000 and has 239 receptions and 24 touchdowns in his career, including 76 receptions last season. He's been perpetually unhappy with the Raiders, even after signing a five-year deal worth $15 million in 2005.
As a rookie, he complained publicly that the Raiders selected kicker Sebastian Janikowski instead of him in the first round, then asked for a trade in the offseason. He was upset at various times over the next four years for what he considered a diminished role behind veterans such as Andre Rison, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown, and in '04 said he'd never play for the Raiders again after hearing rumors they had considered trading him.
Then, about a week after he signed the contract extension in '05, the Raiders acquired receiver Randy Moss, again putting Porter in a No. 2 role.
This offseason, he got in an argument with new coach Art Shell about the team's expectation that he work out in Oakland for much of the offseason and again asked for a trade. He reported to training camp but has missed most of the practice time because of a calf injury.
