How the Packers Could Trade for Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson

One name surfacing in trade rumors recently is Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson. It’s easy to understand why:

  1. He's heading into his age 28 season.
  2. He’s a seven-time Pro Bowler and a three-time All Pro.
  3. He’s got three years remaining on his deal, so it wouldn't be like an Odell Beckham Jr. situation where you have to redo his deal right away because he wants to get paid more.

He's also he's already been paid and he's getting paid quite a bit. Supposedly the Cardinals have toyed with the idea of trading him, and Deion Sanders actually suggested the Packers might be a possible destination last fall.

I'm skeptical as to whether or not the Packers would be interested in doing a deal, but let's talk about it anyway. What would it take to get him?

We've got three pretty good examples. Digging pretty far back in recent history, we've got cornerback Champ Bailey. He was traded before the 2004 season pretty much straight up for running back Clinton Portis and a second-round pick, but more or less it was a Portis-for-Bailey swap. One team got a stud, young running back and a second-round pick for a corner who had been very good and ended up being great with the Denver Broncos.

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More recently, Darrelle Revis and Aqib Talib have also been traded around the same age Peterson is now. Revis was traded heading into his age 28 season to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the thirteenth overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft and a conditional selection the next year. The Buccaneers signed him to a six-year, $96 million contract after the trade, although none of the money in Revis’ new deal was guaranteed. As a result, he was released the next year and ended up in New England.

Aqib Talib is interesting because you've got to take it with a grain of salt because of some of the ancillary considerations related to why he was traded. He was traded at the start of his age 26 season in part because he was serving a four-game suspension for performance enhancing related drugs. On November 1, 2012, the Buccaneers traded Talib and an a 2013 seventh-round draft pick to the Patriots for their 2013 fourth-round pick.

Considering the trades of both Bailey and Revis, it demonstrates Green Bay would likely need at least a first-round pick:

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This post is an adapted transcript of the most recent episode of Blue 58, a Packers podcast from The Power Sweep. Listen to the full episode below, and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunesStitcheriHeartRadioCastBox and more to stay on top of the best in Packers news and analysis.