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 War 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.
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.
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