1 last-minute trade Packers must make before Week 1

The Green Bay Packers will start the 2023 NFL season in Week 1 by traveling around 200 miles south to face their NFC North rivals, the Chicago Bears, on the league’s opening Sunday.

There are several Packers trades that the team could make before then. Sure, they could look for a high-end starting wide receiver or add depth to the secondary.

But the best move Green Bay can make is all about helping Jordan Love while also hedging their bets just a bit for the upcoming campaign. That is why Houston Texans quarterback Case Keenum is the player to target for a last-minute Packers trade before Week 1 of the new season.

The Packers Week 1 game of the 2023 NFL season is also Game 1 of the Jordan Love Era. Three years ago, the franchise put all its eggs in the Love basket, just like they’d done a decade and a half prior with a young whippersnapper named Aaron Rodgers.

That first move worked out well, but how often does a team replace a generational quarterback with another generational quarterback?

Outside of Rodgers and Favre, the San Francisco 49ers with Joe Montana and Steve Young, and the Indianapolis Colts with Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, the answer is basically never.

Now the Packers are trying to go back-to-back-to-back with franchise quarterbacks to complete a feat that no NFL team has ever accomplished. And if that doesn’t work, the Packers are just out of luck this season. Despite having a defense filled with first-round picks, a solid offensive line, and some nice weapons, if Love doesn’t perform well or gets hurt and misses a few games, the Packers’ season is over.

Right now, the team’s only backup QB is rookie Sean Clifford, a fifth-round pick out of Penn State who, frankly, wasn’t even that good at Penn State.

Now he is the franchise’s only hope if Love tweaks an elbow or sprains an ankle. That’s why the Packers need to trade for Texans QB Case Keenum.

Part of only having Clifford as a backup is that the Green Bay front office and coaching staff seemingly didn’t want any competition for Love. He sat for three years behind Rodgers, and now the car is his and his alone. That’s fine. But having no competition and no backup are two different things.

The team needs a player who can come in and at least keep the team competitive if Love goes out for any reason. They don’t have to keep the starting job when he comes back.

With the new emergency third QB rules in the NFL, more teams than ever are keeping three signal-callers, so there are few on the market right now.

If the Packers send a seventh-round pick to the Texans for Keenum, that should get a deal done ahead of Week 1 of the 2023 season. Houston already has CJ Stroud and Davis Mills. Bringing in Keenum would give the Packers a real backup with real experience.

Keenum has played in 78 NFL games and started 64 in his decade-long career. At 35, he’s no threat to Jordan Love, and he can even teach him a thing or two.

This Packers trade would put Keenum a little closer to playing than he is with the Texans, give Houston a pick they can use, and puts a real backup QB on the roster to support Love. That’s why this deal makes so much sense for all involved.