Packers Morning Buzz: Trade speculation to heat up as deadline nears

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 NFL trade talk heating up ahead of the Nov. 3 deadline, with Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports proposing a deal in which the Packers would acquire Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green.

Benjamin writes:

Packers get: WR A.J. Green
Bengals get: 2021 fourth-round draft pick, 2022 conditional sixth-round pick

The Bengals have refused to deal their top trade chips, like Green, for so long that it's probably going to take more than you'd expect to pry Green out of Cincinnati, where even Sunday's encouraging performance didn't erase the fact he's becoming an odd man out in a younger group. At this point, why shouldn't Green Bay take a swing, even if it eventually means losing Green in 2021 free agency and hoping for a compensatory pick? Aaron Rodgers has done very well operating with just Davante Adams and/or Allen Lazard, but with the latter hurt and No. 12 clearly positioned to take the Packers on another run, he deserves the gamble. What better way, by the way, for the Green Bay front office to repay Rodgers after an offseason spent planning for life without him?

You can read the entire story here:

Pete Dougherty addresses the question of whether Packers GM Brian Gutekunst is shopping for a wide receiver during his live chat with readers Wednesday.

Dougherty writes:

I would assume he's looked into them, but whether he makes a hard play form, that's another matter. Their contracts matter -- I think Julio Jones is still due a lot of money this year, and with the impending FAs next year (Bakhtiari, Jones, King and Linsley) it could be hard to pay Jones and also pay the guys Gutekunst wants to retain. Same with AJ Green, and I'm not sure how good Green is anymore -- not saying he's not good, I just don't have a good feel for that. He's had some significant injury issues the last couple years, so there's a lot of risk there. I still wonder if Gutekunst would be more likely to go for help on defense rather than at receiver -- he might be able to find a DL who could help without having to give up much in the draft or salary. It's all in play, though, just depends on the cost. They definitely can use the help on D, and they could use some more talent at WR. But I don't think he's going to do anything like, for instance, Belichick did trading a second-rounder for Sanu. I just don't get the feeling Gutekunst would give up that much. I could be wrong, we'll see in the next two weeks -- the trade deadline is Nov. 3.

You can read more from Pete's chat here:

The Packers should explore enhancing their defense by trading for Texans sack master and former Wisconsin star J.J. Watt, writes Rob Reischel of Forbes Sports:

Unfortunately for Packers fans, the cost of such a deal would be prohibitive, writes Zach Kruse of The Packers Wire:

Another potentially beneficial trade target that could be too cost-prohibitive:

The Packers are confident they will bounce back from their blowout loss at Tampa Bay:

Don't try telling Aaron Rodgers that opposing defenses have figured out Green Bay's offense:

Former Packers safety LeRoy Butler expects the Packers to adjust:

Butler breaks down the Packers' problems with the Bucs' blitzes:

An enterprising and entertaining look at Rodgers:

The Packers took a tumble from No. 1 to No. 8 in the USA TODAY Sports weekly power rankings. Nate Davis writes:

8. Packers (1): On one hand, they've only lost five games under Matt LaFleur. On the other, those defeats have been by an average of 19.2 points.

You can check out the rankings here:

Green Bay also slid in the SI.com rankings:

7. Green Bay Packers (4–1)

The Packers are a good football team. Yes, they got waxed for the final three quarters against Tampa Bay, but I don’t want to overreact too much to one game. Look at the 49ers, who got crushed by the Dolphins in Week 5 and then came back to beat a strong Rams team. So of course the Packers slide down the board a bit, behind the undefeated teams and those Buccaneers, but you should never say the sky is falling after just one bad game—often no matter how bad it feels the day after.

See the entire rankings here:

ESPN's Rob Demovsky traces the roots of the friendship between Packers rookies Jordan Love and Krys Barnes:

Mike McCarthy's coaching staff is coming under fire as the Cowboys' losses mount:

And finally: Believe it or not ....

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