Packers fans who were dreaming about Josh Sweat lining up next to Micah Parsons need to pump the brakes. The trade rumors are louder than the actual conversations.
Matt Schneidman of The Athletic dropped a cold bucket of water on the speculation Tuesday. According to Schneidman, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has not discussed a Sweat trade with anyone. Not the Cardinals, not anybody.
“Sorry to rain on the parade, but I’m told Brian Gutekunst hasn’t discussed a Josh Sweat trade with anyone. Not a thing at this point,” Schneidman said.
Why The Rumor Took Off
The connection makes too much sense on paper. Sweat is holding out from the Cardinals. The Packers just hired Jonathan Gannon as their defensive coordinator. Gannon was the Cardinals head coach during Sweat’s first year in Arizona in 2024, and before that he was the Eagles defensive coordinator when Sweat was racking up double-digit sacks in Philly.
Add the looming Parsons recovery from a torn ACL and the Packers needing rush help out of the gate, and the math practically does itself. Green Bay needs pass rushers. Sweat needs out. Gannon already knows the player.
The Production Speaks For Itself
Sweat is 29 years old and has 55 sacks, 11 forced fumbles, and 114 quarterback hits across 121 career games. He just signed a four-year, $76.4 million deal with Arizona in 2024, so any trade would require a team to take on real money plus give up draft capital.
The Cardinals are 0-2 in handling this offseason. Sweat is unhappy. Their front office is publicly committed to him being part of the future. Holdouts usually end one of two ways: a new contract or a divorce.
Reading The Tea Leaves
Just because Gutekunst is not making calls today does not mean he will not make calls tomorrow. NFL trade markets move slowly through OTAs and then accelerate as roster decisions pile up in August. The Packers are not going to tip their hand in early June, especially if they think they can leverage uncertainty around Sweat to drop the asking price.
Schneidman did good reporting here. He is saying nothing is happening right now, not that nothing will ever happen. Those are very different statements.
What This Really Tells Us
The Cardinals have not gotten the call they wanted from Green Bay. That is the actual story. Arizona probably hoped that a Packers offer would force their hand and provide cover for moving on from Sweat. Without that pressure, the Cardinals are stuck either swallowing the holdout or eating cap money on a trade that returns less than what they want.
Packers fans get to keep dreaming about a Parsons-Sweat duo wreaking havoc through the NFC North. For now, that dream lives in the group chat and nowhere else.
If anything changes, it probably will not come until late July or August. That is when these stalemates usually break.
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.
