NFL Draft 2011: Should the Green Bay Packers Trade Out of the First Round?

The Green Bay Packers have the 32nd pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.

Their biggest needs are offensive line and outside linebacker.

Those are needs that general manager Ted Thompson might want to address in the first round, but he might not be able to.

If a guy like Justin Houston or Gabe Carimi doesn’t fall to the bottom of the first round, the Packers might want to consider a trade.

There are three primary reasons for trading out of the first round: acquiring future picks, money and better value for the picks.

Future Picks

The Packers could trade their first round pick to a team like the Tennessee Titans, who may want to move up to grab a quarterback like Andy Dalton, Ryan Mallett or Christian Ponder.

There will likely be a lot of movement in the late-first to early-second rounds for teams that want one of those second-tier QBs.

Green Bay could get a team’s second round pick this year and probably their second round pick in 2012 in a trade.

Then, the Packers not only don’t lose too much value in this draft, but they gain value in 2012.

Money

First round draft picks make more money.

Trading down from No. 32 to No. 40 would make quite a bit of difference when it comes to saving cash.

Even if 2011 ends up being an uncapped year, the small market Packers don’t have a ton of room to throw a bunch of money at players.

Plus, with the amount of talent on the roster, a few of this year’s draft picks probably won’t even make the roster.

I certainly wouldn’t want to pay second or third round money to a guy who will only be on the practice squad at best.

Better Value

Sure, the Packers could draft a guy like Mikel LeShoure, Ryan Williams or even Titus Young at No. 32.

But, those guys are still going to be around at No. 41 (probably not much longer after that for LeShoure).

The point is that moving down doesn’t hurt the Packers’ chances of getting a guy they want.

Most fans (myself included) just love having a first round pick, but when push comes to shove, they’ll get better value if they drop to the middle of the second round.

Potential Trading Partners

The Tennessee Titans might be interested in moving up if they don’t think they can get a quarterback at No. 41.

The San Francisco 49ers will be in that same boat if Blaine Gabbert and Cam Newton are gone by the time they pick at No. 7.

The Arizona Cardinals, Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings are also potential candidates to move up.

I doubt Thompson will be too eager to help the Vikings draft a QB though.