The Packers traded receiver Dontayvion Wicks to the Eagles earlier this month, receiving a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick in exchange for the receiver.
In his pre-draft press conference on Tuesday, Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst framed the deal as one that should work out well for Wicks and Green Bay for different reasons. With several talented players at receiver on the Packers’ roster, Wicks may have had trouble breaking through that group for a definite future with the franchise.
“It’s always tough to move off of a player that you feel is as good as Dontayvion was for us,” Gutekunst said. “I think he’s got a really bright career ahead of him. The situation we were kind of in with the amount of players we had in that room, what we’re probably going to do in the future, him being in the last year of his contract, it just made a little bit of sense. This year, coming out of the ’22 draft class, I think we were lucky enough to have retained a bunch of those guys. But a bunch of those guys signed elsewhere this year, too — we’re probably going to get compensatory picks for those players. I don’t know for sure if we’re going to be able to do that moving forward next year and the year after.
“So, the ability to get two picks for a player that we weren’t sure exactly how he was going to fit into our future plans, it just made a lot of sense. And I think it was good for us, and I think it’s going to be good for Dontayvion, too, I think he’ll see his opportunities increase there as well.”
Without Wicks, the Packers currently have Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Matthew Golden, Savion Williams, Skyy Moore, Jakobie Keeney-James, Isaiah Neyor, and Will Sheppard on their roster at wideout.
Additionally, Gutekunst noted that the picks the team received for Wicks should help with flexibility for this week’s draft.
“Every G.M. wants as many as you can [have], not only because of the players you can select, but the ability to move,” Gutekunst said. “You never like giving them up, but if there’s a player in front of you that you know you’re going to acquire, it makes it a little bit easier. So, yeah, I think we sit with eight right now. We’re looking at 11-plus for next year. So, whether it’s in this year’s draft, next year’s, the ability to move around to acquire the types of players we want to acquire, you have to have those picks to do that.”
Wicks caught 30 passes for 332 yards with two touchdowns for the Packers in 2025. In his 46 career games since being selected in the fifth- round of the 2023 draft, Wicks has caught 108 passes for 1,328 yards with 11 TDs.