Trading Colby Wooden for Zaire Franklin helped plug one roster hole ahead of free agency, but made a pre-existing roster problem even more pressing.

Adding Franklin makes sense, even coming off a down year. He was worse than Quay Walker last year, but in 2024 had a better season than any Walker has produced. Franklin could also cost half of what Walker will when he hits the open market.

The Packers probably gauged what it would cost to keep Walker and made this corresponding move, looking for a cheaper solution. More than just solving the linebacker position though, the trade may say something about what Green Bay is ready to do at defensive tackle.

Their situation on the interior was already bad, and they just made it worse. Wooden was their best run defender last year per PFF, and he only ranked 88th out of 127 eligible players. The other three (Karl Brooks, Devonte Wyatt and Warren Brinson) were all in the bottom 20.

Wyatt and Brooks are out of contract after this upcoming season, and Brinson is a former 6th round pick, not a pillar of stability to rely on long-term.

Because they at least had bodies at defensive tackle, there was a world where Green Bay rolled into the draft with their core group of Wyatt, Wooden, Brooks, Brinson and Stackhouse and tried to address it there.

That surely cannot be the case now for a team who likes to enter the draft with no glaring holes so they can take the best player available.

Most of the free agency class at defensive tackle is old, and signing those kinds of players is not usually what the Packers do.

But in itself, acquiring Franklin, who will turn 30 this year, looks like a sign they are open to bringing older players onto the team after being the youngest roster in the league for three straight seasons.

If they want to add a defensive tackle in free agency with proven quality, that’s what they are going to have to do. Thinking outside the box, could the Franklin acquisition be a precursor to another trade at defensive tackle?

The trade market has already been very active across the league before the new league year has begun, and it should continue to be the case, especially as free agent pools seem to get more tepid with each passing year.

Green Bay is in line to collect as many as four compensatory picks in the 2027 draft due to the players they are about to lose, and would surely like to protect those by not spending too much in free agency.

Another player for player swap would accomplish that goal, although those deals are often tricky to do.

On the other hand, if signing a free agent could potentially cost them a comp pick anyway, there is not much difference between doing that, and trading a pick for a player now, then still getting the comp picks.

A defensive tackle trade would not necessarily mean the Packers are shopping for a high end player, but Brian Gutekunst showed his willingness to be aggressive last year, and recently said the “most important thing” with their decisions is how they can compete for a championship in 2026.

The recent trade seems to imply that one way or another, they will make a more proactive move to fix the defensive tackle position.