The Green Bay Packers have an overflow at wide receiver following the NFL draft that has left some wondering whether they might attempt to trade away either Romeo Doubs or Christian Watson before the start of the 2025 season.
The Packers drafted a wide receiver in the first round for the first time since 2002 when they selected Texas standout Matthew Golden with the No. 23 pick last month, adding a dynamic new pass-catcher and likely starter to the mix for quarterback Jordan Love.
The next day, the Packers also added another wide receiver in the third round, picking up TCU’s Savion Williams in the third round and further crowding their receiver room.
From a roster-building perspective, the Packers made necessary moves to help ensure their future at the wide receiver position. Their draft decisions, however, have already caused one of their receivers, Jayden Reed, to seek clarification about his role with the team for the forthcoming season — a question several of their receivers might have.
If concerns emerge about snap counts, the Packers could evaluate their trade options with Doubs and Watson, who are each entering the final year of their rookie contracts.
If they cannot find a trade partner for either one, though, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox believes they could consider outright releasing Doubs to create cap savings.
“While one could argue that Doubs has been the more reliable of the two, he’s also set to carry the bigger 2025 cap hit,” Knox wrote. “Watson is coming off a torn ACL and could spend the season on injured reserve anyway, and Green Bay could save $3.4 million in cap space by cutting Doubs.”
Cutting Romeo Doubs Makes Little Sense for Packers
Knox is right about a few things: Doubs has the bigger cap hit between him and Watson after earning a level-one proven performance escalator that bumped up his base pay for the 2025 season, according to Over the Cap. Watson will also expectedly start the year on injured reserve, making him less expensive to keep and more difficult to move.
Beyond that, though, the logic for cutting Doubs from the roster is flimsy at best.
The Packers could absolutely explore their trade options with Doubs in the next three months leading up to the 2025 regular season. They will have Golden, Williams, Reed and Dontayvion Wicks under contract in 2026 and, as a consequence, may already have a sense that they will not re-sign Doubs when his rookie contract expires next March.
Doubs is also a good player, which is as much an argument for keeping him as it is for shopping him. While Doubs has shown spurts of reliability for the Packers and seems to have good chemistry with Love, the team might view him as expendable if they aim to feature their newer receivers more prominently.
Meanwhile, other teams around the league should have interest in a 25-year-old wide receiver who has 1,700 career receiving yards and 35 starts in his first three seasons. Doubs’ expiring contract could limit the Packers’ potential trade return, but they could walk away happy if a wideout-needy team offers them an early-to-mid Day 3 pick.
Will Packers Engage in Trade Talks About Romeo Doubs?
Of course, what the Packers could do with Doubs is not an indication of what they will do.
Many of the rumors about the Packers potentially trading Doubs revolve around two things: his undefined role in the receiving corps in 2025 and his brief conduct issue from the 2024 season, which resulted in the team suspending him for a single game.
The former argument is compelling, as the Packers will need to devise a plan to keep all of their wide receivers happy in 2025 if they want to avoid any midseason drama about usage and roles. The latter, however, holds little water considering Doubs returned to the team after his suspension and continued to play a meaningful role for their offense.
Practically, the best decision for the Packers might be keeping their receiver room in a cluttered state during training camp and letting the on-field battles dictate how they proceed into the season. They won’t abandon Golden or Williams if either struggles to show that he is NFL-ready, but they could decide to keep Doubs if he looks undeniably like their best wide receiver when the pads come on and Love starts throwing passes.
Right now, Doubs’ future could go either way.
