Green Bay Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love is off to a fine start to the 2025 regular season and carrying with him the team’s hopes to compete for a Super Bowl, but not everyone is content with the backup sitting behind him.
Earlier this week, USA Today’s Nate Davis made the case for 12 players to draw interest from other teams on the market before the 2025 NFL trade deadline on November 4, connecting dots between the Packers and the Las Vegas Raiders’ quarterback room.
Davis’ argument? The Packers should call the Raiders about the availability of former first-round pick and backup Kenny Pickett to add a “more experienced fallback” than current No. 2 quarterback Malik Willis, who started two games for them in 2025.
“Malik Willis carried the Pack in a pinch without Jordan Love last year, but he was hardly asked to operate the offense at a similar level,” Davis wrote Wednesday. “Maybe he’s up to the task now … and maybe Green Bay would be wise to look at a more experienced fallback if, say, Love were to be lost for a six-week stretch.”
Kenny Pickett Has Limited Appeal After Browns Stint
Davis is not the first analyst to suggest the Packers might want to start thinking about the future of their quarterback room behind Love. Willis has been good for them, but he is in the final season of his rookie contract and seems more likely to exit in free agency for an opportunity to start than to re-sign with the Packers as their long-term No. 2.
As far as potential replacements go, though, Pickett is hardly a high-end choice.
Pickett, the No. 20 overall pick in 2022, spent two seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers as their starting quarterback, completing 62.6% of his passes for 4,474 yards with 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 25 total appearances. When the Steelers signed Russell Wilson in 2024, though, they quickly traded him away to Philadelphia.
Since then, Pickett has struggled to earn playing time. He played extended snaps in two games for the Eagles near the end of the 2024 season, but he went just 24-of-39 passing for 286 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in his limited showings.
After the season, the Eagles passed the backup reins to Tanner McKee and traded away Pickett to the Cleveland Browns, where he was to compete in a four-way QB battle for the starting job with Joe Flacco and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. A hamstring injury, however, kept him out of the running for the entire preseason.
The Browns then offloaded Pickett to the Raiders for a fifth-round pick before the roster cutdown, cutting their losses with the former top-20 pick despite doubts at quarterback.
Maybe Pickett will find the right situation in the future and catch fire, but his resume is not nearly sparkling enough for the Packers to think he could meaningfully push Willis.
Packers Shut Down Trade Interest in Malik Willis
Even if Pickett had a stronger resume and ranked among the upper echelon of young backup quarterbacks, the Packers wouldn’t have much of a reason to trade for him.
That’s because Willis, for all his shortcomings in Tennessee, has breathed new life into his career since arriving in Green Bay on a low-cost trade before the 2024 season.
Willis did not break any barriers with his two spot-starts for Love in 2024, but he did run head coach Matt LaFleur’s offense efficiently to help the Packers win both games. In his two starts, he completed 25-of-33 passes (75.8%) for 324 yards, two touchdowns and zero turnovers. He also rushed 12 times for 114 yards and another score.
While his playing time since then has been minimal, the Packers have made it clear that they value their No. 2 quarterback. According to Packer Report’s Easton Butler, the Cincinnati Bengals called the Packers to inquire about Willis’ availability in a trade after losing starter Joe Burrow to a significant injury. Nothing, however, came of that call.
If the Packers aren’t willing to trade Willis to a desperate team with quarterback needs, then it stands to reason they would have no desire to acquire Pickett to push him.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Packers Urged to Replace Malik Willis in Trade for Former 1st-Round QB appeared first on Heavy Sports.