The Green Bay Packers have a variety of needs that they need to find solutions to this off-season. Among these is adding some cornerback depth to the roster after the unit disappointed in 2025. The addition of new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon will hopefully help, but the fact remains that Green Bay found itself without quality players at the position as last season progressed.
Another area that the team must focus on this off-season is identifying a kick return specialist. If they are not going to use Keisean Nixon in that role, who is a two-time First Team All-Pro as a returner, then they must provide whoever replaces Rich Bisaccia as special teams coordinator with someone who can actually do the job. Last year, they experimented with several different players, but never really settled on just one player who could consistently do it.
That being said, a recent trade proposal made by Bleacher Report may fill both of those voids.
Green Bay Packers encouraged to trade for Deonte Banks
Sep 21, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants cornerback Deonte Banks (2) and safety Tyler Nubin (27) react after a play against Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster (9) in the second quarter at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
In the aforementioned Bleacher Report article, a trade proposal was suggested for each team that would improve its roster. The suggestion for the Packers was to send a sixth-round pick to the New York Giants for 2023 first round pick Deonte Banks:
“They have a real need at cornerback. They tried several answers on the outside last season and will need to keep looking.
“Deonte Banks might be a solution. He flashed as a first-round pick in his rookie season in 2023, but has struggled since then. With Jonathan Gannon taking over the defense and John Harbaugh taking over in New York, this would be a good time to see if Banks still fits in the Giants’ plans.”
To be clear, Banks has struggled at cornerback over the last two seasons, having allowed opposing quarterbacks to have a passer rating over 120 while targeting him during that time. However, as BR notes, Gannon could possibly unlock something in him.
But what the article does not discuss that makes this trade something that actually might be realistic is the fact that Banks was New York’s kick return specialist last year.
In that role, he had 19 kickoff returns for 622 yards, an average of 32.7 yards per return. One of them he returned 95 yards for a touchdown.
As he is in his third year in the NFL, Banks is still on his rookie contract, which means that he is not going to hurt Green Bay’s salary cap situation should they acquire him.
This all being said, it is hard to see the Packers giving up any more of their draft picks since they do not have one in the first round this year (or next). If they were to, though, this would be the kind of swing that they would take.
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