Packers Predicted to Trade 1st-Round Pick for $100 Million Star

The Green Bay Packers must make do with their current cornerback depth for the 2024 NFL playoffs, but they may have a blockbuster trade avenue worth exploring with the rebuilding Cleveland Browns during the 2025 offseason.

ESPN’s Benjamin Solak recently suggested the Browns could look to move on from one of their two starting cornerbacks — Denzel Ward or Greg Newsome II — this offseason with Cleveland in dire need of additional draft capital to jumpstart its rebuild in 2025.

He also specifically floated the Packers as a potential trade suitor for Ward, predicting they could “put a first-round pick on the table” to acquire the four-time Pro Bowler.

“With no contending future in sight, I expect the Browns to trade players for picks. Both cornerbacks Denzel Ward (who had an excellent season) and Greg Newsome II (who had an uncharacteristically shaky season) should be made available, and one will be dealt,” Solak wrote on January 6. “For my money, I expect a young, rising team to put a first-round pick on the table for Ward (Packers? Vikings?) and give the Browns the draft capital they need to aggressively rebuild.”

In other words, Solak projects the Packers would offer up their 2025 first-round draft selection — which will be no better than No. 19 overall — to the Browns in exchange for Ward. The 27-year-old cornerback made the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in his NFL career in 2024 and is signed to a $100 million deal that runs through the 2027 season.

Would Denzel Ward Trade Make Sense for Packers?

There is no denying that a trade for Ward would provide a jolt to the Packers defense for the 2025 season and keep them on track to remain contenders for the Super Bowl. Just how much sense does trading for a $100 million corner make for them, though?

Ward was one of the NFL’s best single-coverage cornerbacks of the 2024 season with Pro Football Focus lauding his abilities in one-on-one matchups. He also recorded a league-high — and career-high — 19 pass deflections in coverage and notched at least two interceptions for a seventh consecutive season, emphasizing his veteran instincts.

The problem is the Packers are already paying top dollar to their own cornerback, Jaire Alexander, who makes $21 million annually on a four-year contract that runs through the end of the 2026 season. While they could still find room for Ward’s similar cap cost on their 2025 books, it makes little sense for two of their four largest cap hits to belong to players at the same position — especially if acquiring one costs a first-round pick.

Now, the possibility of making a trade for Ward — or another cornerback of his caliber — becomes more realistic if the Packers decide to move on from Alexander during the 2025 offseason, but their course is difficult to chart until they cross that bridge.

Jaire Alexander’s Future Remains Crucial 2025 Question

Before the Packers can dive too deeply into trade possibilities at the cornerback spot, the team must decide what it wants to do about two-time All-Pro Jaire Alexander.

Alexander has been a lockdown cornerback on the perimeter for the Packers when he has been healthy enough to play, but injuries have given him significant trouble and limited him to just 14 total games over the past two seasons. Most recently, the 27-year-old missed the final seven games of the 2024 season with a knee injury that forced him to undergo arthroscopic surgery and landed him on the injured reserve list last week.

While the Packers still have Alexander under contract for the next two seasons, his cap charges will swell to roughly $25.37 million in 2025 and about $$27.37 million in 2026. That’s quite a bit of money to give to a player who has missed 33 regular-season games over the past four seasons of his career — even one as talented as Alexander.

If the Packers believe Alexander can return to full health and play up to his potential again in 2025, they should have no problem ponying up the money, but his injuries may give them pause and prompt them to consider other options as they chart their future. Cutting Alexander outright is unlikely to happen, but perhaps they could find a trade partner for the injury-troubled cornerback. He is a two-time Pro Bowl talent, after all.

Whatever the Packers decide to do will play a crucial role in how they move forward.