Packers Reacts Survey: Week 8

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Green Bay Packers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate.

Time flies. We’re now at the mid-year mark of the NFL season and it feels like the 3-4 Green Bay Packers are still soul-searching in a very painful way. With that in mind, we’re going to ask you three temperature-checking questions going into Week 8.

First, should the Packers be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? Many will want them to fight for a receiver addition until the bitter end, but there’s a good case to be made that the team should start taking a long-term approach in roster building after Matt LaFleur has already tied his career-high in losses in a season this year.

Second, will David Bakhtiari be on the 2023 team? Coming into last week, I think the answer would have been a clear yes. With Bakhtiari’s Friday cleared status and Sunday inactive reality, though, it seems as though his knee can’t be counted on no matter how the turns of the rollercoaster go. When insiders are saying things like “sometimes he just wakes up and his knee just doesn’t feel right” and teammates are saying things like “you can just see it the way Bakhtiari looks in practice sometimes,” his $17.5 million salary in 2023 has to become a conversation.

Lastly, if you had to let one walk in 2023, who would it be: Allen Lazard, Elgton Jenkins, Rashan Gary or Adrian Amos? Lazard, Jenkins and Amos are going to be free agents in 2023 and Gary is a high-price enough target that the team would likely have to trade him next offseason if they aren’t confident that he will be re-signed long-term. According to Spotrac, the Packers are $2 million over the cap heading into 2023. Beyond the three players mentioned above, Randall Cobb, Sammy Watkins, Robert Tonyan, Marcedes Lewis, Dallin Leavitt, Eric Wilson, Mason Crosby, Dean Lowry, Jarran Reed and Keisean Nixon will also be unrestricted free agents at the end of the year.