Packers Morning Buzz: Brandin Cooks would come with a hefty price tag

Welcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers from around the web and here at PackersNews.com.

We'll start with Pete Dougherty fielding a question Wednesday in his weekly live chat about whether the Packers might be interested in acquiring Rams receiver Brandin Cooks, who has recently indicated he'd be OK with being traded (and NBC's Peter King listed the Packers as a possible destination).

Dougherty's response:

The Packers make sense as a potential destination for any WR that becomes available, but the depth at the WR position in the draft has to be kept in mind. He's got some salaries that are probably too rich for the Packers -- $8M this year plus a $4M roster (I'm not sure when the roster bonus is due or if it's already been paid), then $12M next year, $13M the year after that and $14M the year after that. Those are pretty big salaries for a guy who went from 80 catches in '19 to 42 (in 14 games) last year. I'm thinking Gutekunst would consider those salaries too high. What do you think it would take to get him? A third-rounder?

Cooks, who turns 27 in September, has a history of concussions and produced only 583  receiving yards in 2019 after four straight seasons of 1,000 yards or more.

You can read the rest of Pete's chat (which lasted more than 2 hours and covered a multitude of Packers topics) here:

A draft class rich in wide receivers makes a trade for Cooks seem even less likely:

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has made it clear he's looking at quarterbacks in the draft:

How can NFL contenders fill their most glaring needs in the draft? Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz of USA TODAY Sports says the Packers need inside linebackers:

Green Bay Packers

Glaring need: ILB

First pick: No. 30

A dismantling at the hands of the 49ers in the NFC championship game should have served as sufficient evidence that the second level of Green Bay's defense wasn't up to par. The Packers, however, were content to replace the outgoing Blake Martinez and B.J. Goodson with Browns castoff Christian Kirksey. Martinez, who signed with the Giants, said this week he was used primarily as a "clean-up crew guy." But given Kirksey's recent injury history and the lack of a proven backup, Green Bay would be wise to invest in an off-ball linebacker early in the draft — if not Queen or Murray in the first round, then perhaps Ohio State's Malik Harrison, Oregon's Troy Dye or Mississippi State's Willie Gay Jr. on Day 2 —to prevent a mess. 

You can read the entire story here:

Another day, another mock draft: This one, from Peter Schrager of NFL.com, has the Packers taking a Wisconsin linebacker:

Zack Baun - LB

School: Wisconsin | Year: Senior (RS)

Quarterback will, of course, be a thought for many here. But I don't see it. Baun is a versatile linebacker who can not only replace Blake Martinez in the middle, but can be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades type in Mike Pettine's defense. Baun can be your traditional LB or he can work in the passing game and blanket tight ends. Not a first-round pick in many mock drafts, but I know quite a few teams who like him as an end-of-first/early-second-round guy.

You can see the entire draft here:

A prestigious honor for Davante Adams:

The rest of the NFC North isn't doing much good in free agency, either, writes the Wisconsin State Journal's Tom Oates:

Former Packers right tackle Bryan Bulaga is baffled by the lack of interest by many players in the new CBA:

What we might expect to see this summer:

And finally: For your quarantine viewing pleasure ...

Contact Stu Courtney at (920) 431-8377 or scourtney@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stucourt