Josh Sweat Trade Rumors to Packers Cooled by Cardinals: What the Latest Reports Mean
The Josh Sweat to Green Bay storyline was building real momentum. Now the Cardinals are putting cold water all over it.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Arizona is not planning to trade Sweat, not to the Packers and not to anyone else. The report directly contradicts earlier reporting from Easton Butler at Packer Report, who claimed Green Bay and Arizona were already deep in negotiations and the only sticking points were cap absorption and draft pick value.
That is a big swing in 48 hours.
Athletic reporter Matt Schneidman added another layer, reporting that Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has not even spoken to anyone about a Sweat trade. If that is accurate, the rumor was inflated from the start, and the Packer Report version of events was based on speculation rather than active conversations.
Here is why this story had legs in the first place.
Sweat signed a four-year, $76 million deal with Arizona in 2025 after his Super Bowl run with the Eagles. He had 12 sacks for Philadelphia in that title season and was supposed to be the cornerstone of the Cardinals defensive rebuild under Jonathan Gannon. Then 2025 happened. Arizona finished 8-9, the defense underwhelmed, and Sweat’s name surfaced on every trade board in the league once the offseason started.
The Packers connection made sense for a clean reason. Green Bay just hired Gannon as defensive coordinator after Arizona reshuffled its staff, and Gannon was the head coach in Sweat’s first year as a Cardinal. Coordinators almost always want their guys. Gannon would want Sweat. Sweat trusts Gannon. That is the entire blueprint of an NFL trade rumor.
Add in Sweat’s reported offseason holdout, and the smoke started to look like fire.
Except it might not be. Rapoport’s report cools the temperature, and the Packer Report writers are now in the uncomfortable position of either standing behind a story their NFL Network competitors are publicly knocking down, or backtracking.
Both sides cannot be right. Either Arizona was working on a trade and got cold feet, or the negotiations never existed at the level reported. Both scenarios are plausible.
What matters now is the football situation.
If Sweat stays, Gannon’s old player is staying with a new coordinator and a defense that needs him to be worth $19 million per year. If he goes, the Packers acquire one of the better pure pass rushers in the league and reshape an NFC contender. The stakes are huge in both directions.
The Jaguars have also been linked, with reports suggesting Jacksonville could swoop in if the Packers and Cardinals cannot agree on a price. The Bears have been mentioned. The trade market for Sweat exists, and any team needing a 28-year-old veteran edge rusher with a championship resume would happily pick up the phone.
The most likely outcome is still that Sweat plays Week 1 in Arizona. Trading a player you just signed to a four-year deal one season into the contract is a brutal admission that the front office swung and missed. Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort is not about to do that publicly.
But the rumor mill never closes. If Arizona starts 0-3 in September, Sweat’s name lands right back on the front page.
For now, take Rapoport’s report at face value. Sweat stays. The Packers move on. The market resets.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
