The Green Bay Packers’ ground game is awful. You knew that by simply watching the games.

The Packers have changed offensive line combinations. They’ve changed carry distribution for their backup running backs. They’ve even changed their starting running back with Josh Jacobs returning to the lineup before Green Bay’s showdown against the Lions.

Nothing has worked. The Packers are ranked 32nd in the NFL with 60.6 rushing yards per game. The next-closest team is the Raiders, who average 17 yards more per game than Green Bay.

With the NFL trade deadline approaching on Tuesday, the Packers have been noted to be poking around at running backs and offensive linemen. Jordan Love has said that his team needs to fix the ground game in order to be the team it wants to be. The question is, can they do it? Who are some pieces they could acquire to try and do it?

Packers Trade Deadline Outlook at Running Back

The Packers need another running back. That’s true whether Josh Jacobs remains on the team or not. As of now, the working assumption is that Jacobs is going to be part of the team, as coach Matt LaFleur said in his opening statement earlier in the week.

That likely takes the Packers out of the running for more of the high-end solutions at running back, such as Indianapolis star and former Wisconsin Badgers phenom Jonathan Taylor.

Perhaps the Packers could view adding a high-end running back as a luxury they can afford due to the uncertain nature of Jacobs’ status with the team on a weekly basis. The reported asking price for Taylor is either a first-round pick or a re-creation of a first round pick in the aggregate.

The Packers do not have a first-round pick. That was sent away in the deal to acquire Micah Parsons a year ago. They do have second-, third-, and fourth-round picks this year. Those picks, along with a fifth-round pick in the following year’s draft, is what the San Francisco 49ers sent to Carolina to acquire Christian McCaffery in 2023.

That trade has been worth its weight in gold for the 49ers. McCaffery has been their best player on offense since arriving in San Francisco. Oddly enough, one of the picks that Carolina received from Carolina was combined to trade up to select edge player D.J. Johnson, who recently signed to Green Bay’s practice squad.

The Packers, however, are a team that typically holds on to their draft choices. Making that exact trade would mean that Brian Gutekunst would not hold one of his own draft choices until the fifth round.

Would he do that? That seems far-fetched to me, even if the Packers did not have Jacobs. Would he do it for a luxury player to combine with Jacobs? That feels even more unlikely.

Some more cost-effective options could include one we floated earlier in the week with Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard. Pollard has been good this season for a Tennessee team that is going nowhere fast and just traded one of its biggest stars in Jeffery Simmons to Chicago for two first-round picks. The Titans are looking to rebuild their roster.

Pollard could work alongside Jacobs without having to outright replace him as someone like Taylor would do.

One other possibility is Baltimore’s Derrick Henry. Henry is stuck on a Ravens team that is likely going nowhere with Lamar Jackson sidelined for the rest of the season. Henry was brought into Baltimore to be the final piece for a Super Bowl push. Could he be that in Green Bay now?

He has history with Matt LaFleur, as the two were together in Tennessee in LaFleur’s lone season. Henry is a cold-weather back, as evidenced by the beating he handed the Packers last December, and could give the Packers a punishing presence as the elements turn.

ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reported the Ravens are not expected to move Henry, but one phone call can change everything.

With all the discussion surrounding one former Badger in Taylor, what if another became Green Bay’s target?

The New York Jets are another team spiraling to nowhere, and it looks like their coaching staff, at minimum, is set to meet their maker at the end of the season.

Could the Jets kickstart a rebuild by moving one of their talented running backs? Breece Hall could be intriguing, but the Jets just paid him in the offseason. Teams typically don’t move players who were just signed to contract extensions.

What about his backup?

Braelon Allen is coming off one of the best games of his career. In fact, Allen has 251 rushing yards the last two games. The Packers’ top two rushers have combined for 253. Allen’s 147 yards that he ran for last week against the Raiders are just 2 fewer than Marshawn Lloyd’s team-leading 149 yards.

Allen is a young player who appears to be ascending. That’s the type of player that Gutekunst has typically targeted when he’s gone shopping outside of the draft. It’s probably far-fetched, but in the search for improvement in the backfield the Packers should be leaving no stone unturned.

Packers Trade Deadline Outlook on Offensive Line

This position group is where things get interesting.

The Packers could clearly use an upgrade on the offensive line. The running backs are not the sole reason the run game is so bad. The Packers came into the season with a flawed group up front that has since been patched together with bubble gum and rubber bands.

After starting the trio of terror that was Donovan Jennings, Jacob Monk and Jager Burton for the first three games of the season at guard, the Packers signed three veteran offensive linemen during their mini-bye after a 35-14 shellacking at the hands of the Falcons.

Mekhi Becton, Laken Tomlinson and Kevin Zeitler were signed before Green Bay took the practice field in Week 4.

Tomlinson started immediately, taking the left guard spot against Tampa Bay. He has started every game since signing in Green Bay off the Cowboys’ practice squad, including at right guard last week.

Becton and Zeitler have yet to play any offensive snaps. Becton was just promoted from the practice squad before the Packers played in Detroit. Zeitler’s situation is well documented, but the Packers insist he has not hit a wall and could play if he was asked to as soon as this weekend.

Left guard Aaron Banks returned to the lineup last week against the Panthers and struggled, but the Packers have made a massive investment in him.

That last line is where the problem lies for Green Bay in terms of upgrading its offensive line. It’s invested a lot in the position group. Things simply have not worked out.

If the Packers acquire another interior offensive lineman, that would mean Banks or Tomlinson would have to go to the bench.

The Packers put Banks right back into the starting lineup after he missed more than a month with knee and toe injuries, so clearly they like him at left guard. They moved Tomlinson from left guard to right guard last week against Carolina, even though Tomlinson had not played that position in 10 years.

An acquisition of someone like Philadelphia’s Landon Dickerson could make sense if the Packers wanted to move him to center, where he has played before.

The problem is that Sean Rhyan is their center who they paid in the offseason. They don’t expect him to land on injured reserve, which means he could be back in the lineup in a week or two.

They drafted offensive tackles Jordan Morgan and Anthony Belton with first- and second-round picks, respectively. They like both players, and it would seem unlikely they’re looking to replace either one.

Acquiring a new offensive lineman means putting someone like Banks or Rhyan on the bench to make them a very expensive backup. It could also mean removing Tomlinson, who has been perhaps their best player up front since he was signed.

The argument could be made that the Packers should just suck it up in terms of having an expensive player on the bench considering neither Banks nor Rhyan has been a dominant force. Banks remains on the injury report every week and his knee feels like a ticking time bomb.

It’s the argument I would make. Is that how the Packers feel? That remains to be seen.

What we do know is the run game is not good enough. There are not enough words to describe how bad it is. As things stand, the lack of even a respectable ground game appears that it will be the biggest reason Green Bay would fall short of its goals for a Super Bowl. 

The Bottom Line

The run game probably isn't salvageable at this point. There is no magic elixir to cure all of their issues on the ground. 

As boring as it sounds, Green Bay's best best to a passable ground game is probably getting better with the guys they have. 

If there is a smaller trade for a more proven commodity as a secondary running back, that might be worth exploring. 

I would not pay the price for any of the top backs, and don't know if there's an offensive lineman who makes sense.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has said numerous times that college scouting reports translate to NFL free agency. So, here are seven former top-50 prospects who could interst the Packers at the trade deadline. ⬇️https://t.co/eQjXXhCopU

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 7, 2026