How does the Micah Parsons trade compare to others in Packers history?

Brian Gutekunst is certainly no stranger to trades, but his massive move for Micah Parsons breaks a bit of a trend in Green Bay. For the first time in a while, a big-name player is coming to Green Bay rather than leaving.

Under Gutekunst, the Packers have sent both Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams — both Hall of Fame-track players — away from the team, reaping significant rewards in the process. Now he’s reversed course, shipping out a (somewhat smaller than expected) warchest of draft capital and long-time Packers’ lineman Kenny Clark for Parsons.

Only time will tell if this turns out to be among the better trades in Packers history (Vince Lombardi might have something to say about that; go read about his wheeling and dealing early in his Packers tenure some time), but is it the biggest?

Actually no, but it’s right up there.

The biggest trade in Packers history is still the ill-fated deal for John Hadl. In a moment of what I can really only describe as outright panic, Packers coach Dan Devine sent the Los Angeles Rams two first round picks, two second round picks, and a third round pick across the 1975 and 1976 drafts. It is, without question, the worst trade in Packers history. It is incomparably bad. It will never be duplicated. And to make matters worse, the Packers had previously had a deal in place for New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning, only for the Saints to get cold feet at the very last minute.

But that’s not the only other big trade in Packers history. There is, of course, Ron Wolf’s big bet on Brett Favre. In 1992, Wolf sent a first round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for the lightly regarded backup quarterback who, to that point, had yet to complete an NFL pass. Well, technically he had completed two passes, except they were to the wrong team. Favre ended the 1991 season 0 for 4 passing with two interceptions. It was hardly a slam dunk that he was going to be any good at all, but Wolf pulled the trigger nonetheless, even overruling a team doctor who wanted to veto the trade based on a degenerative hip condition Favre had.

Then, in the 21st century, there’s the Packers’ trade involving Matt Hasselbeck. In 2001, three years after nabbing Hasselbeck in the sixth round of the NFL Draft, the Packers flipped Hasselbeck and their first round pick (17th overall) to the Seattle Seahawks for Seattle’s first (10th overall) and third (72nd overall) round picks. The Packers used those picks on Jamal Reynolds and Torrance Marshall, both of whom were busts in the NFL. Reynolds lasted just three seasons in the NFL, appearing in just 18 games and recording only three sacks, while Marshall’s stats in the NFL were roughly comparable to what he’d later put up in the Arena Football League.

The Seahawks, though, drafted Hall of Fame guard Steve Hutchinson with the pick they acquired from the Packers, though they later lost him to the Minnesota Vikings in a move so contentious the NFL changed its rules to forbid other teams from doing something similar. 

If you call those three moves the biggest trades in Packers history where the Packers made a significant acquisition, I think the Parsons deal slots in pretty neatly into the group as the second biggest. The compensation isn’t nearly as big as what the Packers paid to acquire Hadl, but it’s clearly bigger than the Favre deal and the Hasselbeck trade, which was basically a pick swap in the grand scheme of things.

Hopefully the Packers’ acquisition of Parsons turns out better than their swap for Hadl. But given that Hadl was pudgy, balding, and already 34 when the Packers decided to sell the farm to get him, I think there’s a pretty good chance they’re already well on their way to a better return.