1 last-minute trade Packers must make before Week 1 of 2026 NFL season

Micah Parsons’ recovery leaves the Green Bay Packers with a dangerous problem with Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season approaching. The star pass rusher is expected to begin the season on the physically unable to perform list and has identified Green Bay’s Week 6 game vs. his former team, the Dallas Cowboys, as an optimistic return target.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst should address that uncertainty by trading for Cowboys edge rusher Sam Williams.

Packers receive: EDGE Sam Williams

Cowboys receive: Green Bay’s 2027 seventh-round pick, which becomes Philadelphia’s 2027 sixth-round pick if Williams plays at least 40 percent of the Packers’ defensive snaps in 2026

Williams would not replace Parsons. No realistic August acquisition could. However, he would give Green Bay a credible early-down defender and keep its young edge rushers from taking on roles they have not yet earned.

Sam Williams would stabilize the Packers’ edge rotation

Green Bay’s official depth chart lists Lukas Van Ness and Barryn Sorrell as the starting edge rushers.

Sorrell produced seven pressures over 131 pass-rush opportunities as a rookie. Van Ness also missed part of his 2025 season due to injury. Counting on both to drive the pass rush while Parsons recovers would put additional pressure on Green Bay’s defensive tackles and secondary.

Williams offers a practical bridge. The 27-year-old played every game for the Cowboys last season, making five starts while recording 37 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and one sack. His sack total disappointed, but his workload demonstrates more NFL readiness than the Packers’ developmental alternatives.

In Jonathan Gannon’s defense, Williams could start opposite Van Ness in base packages and play 30 to 40 snaps per game. At 6-foot-4 and approximately 260 pounds, he can set the edge on early downs and rush with power. Green Bay could limit his coverage responsibilities while asking him to attack offensive tackles and run games with its interior penetrators.

That role would keep Sorrell and rookie Collin Oliver in manageable rotations. After Parsons returns, Williams could help Green Bay control Parsons’ workload following ACL rehabilitation.

The early schedule increases the urgency. Before Parsons becomes eligible to return, the Packers face the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Green Bay cannot spend this stretch discovering whether its young edge group is ready.

Why Dallas could accept Green Bay’s offer

There is no credible report that Dallas is shopping Williams, so his availability remains circumstantial. However, the Cowboys created a legitimate surplus by signing Von Miller on Monday. An updated preseason trade-market evaluation subsequently identified Williams as a player to monitor.

The Cowboys already have Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku, first-round rookie Malachi Lawrence, Williams, James Houston, and Marist Liufau. Gary supplies a proven early-down presence. Miller can handle specialized passing situations, while Lawrence and Ezeiruaku represent younger investments. Finding meaningful snaps for everyone would be difficult.

Williams is also entering free agency after the season. Moving him would allow the Cowboys to turn a potentially reduced role into a draft asset while transferring most of his remaining financial obligation. Dallas would receive at least a seventh-round pick, and the return would become the Philadelphia Eagles’s sixth-rounder if Williams claims a significant role with the Packers.

That conditional structure fits the market. The Chicago Bears sent the Seattle Seahawks a sixth-round pick for Darrell Taylor in August 2024 after Taylor recorded 21.5 sacks over his first three seasons. The Kansas City Chiefs acquired Cameron Thomas from the Arizona Cardinals for a seventh-rounder that same month, after the former third-round pick slipped outside the Cardinals’ plans.

Williams has 9.5 career sacks and managed only one last season, so an unconditional sixth would be excessive. An ordinary seventh might not compensate Dallas for surrendering a player it guaranteed $2 million in March. Tying the upgrade to Williams’ playing time divides the risk fairly.

Green Bay possesses both assets. The Packers retain their original 2027 seventh-rounder and acquired Philadelphia’s 2027 sixth when they traded Dontayvion Wicks.

The contract creates no obstacle. Williams signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal featuring a $600,000 signing bonus, a $1.4 million guaranteed salary, and $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses. Dallas would retain the $600,000 signing-bonus proration as dead money. Green Bay would inherit the salary and remaining roster bonuses, producing a transferred charge of approximately $1.9 million. No extension or restructure would be necessary.

The strongest objection is that Dallas may value Williams more than the pick. The Cowboys guaranteed his base salary and liked what they saw from him early in camp. Miller also complements Williams rather than directly replacing his early-down role. A contender could reasonably prefer excess pass-rush depth.

However, the condition answers that concern without forcing the Packers to overpay. The Cowboys receive better compensation if Williams becomes indispensable, while the Packers surrender only a seventh if he serves primarily as a short-term bridge.

Gutekunst has made this type of move before. He traded a seventh-round pick for Malik Willis immediately before the 2024 season and dealt a 2027 sixth for Darian Kinnard in August 2025. Green Bay favors draft-and-develop roster construction, but Gutekunst has spent Day 3 capital when a premium-position concern required immediate insurance.

This Packers trade would follow that logic. Williams is affordable, suited to Gannon’s defense and potentially squeezed by Dallas’ crowded rotation. The Cowboys gain an asset and financial relief, while Green Bay protects its defense during Parsons’ absence. It is not a fantasy blockbuster. It is the right player at a defensible price for the Packers’ most pressing August problem.

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