It's Josh Sweat week here in the Packers' Universe. Supposedly, he wants out of Arizona (can you blame him) and would love to be in on the Packers' 2026 season. Several reporters have claimed the Packers and Cardinals are discussing trade parameters for a deal, only to be quashed by Matthew Schneidman, who says he was told Gutey has not discussed a Sweat trade with the Cardinals. As an aside, he also pooh-poohed the Micah Parsons to Green Bay talk before it actually happened. In any case, we don't know what or who to believe in this matter, but that shouldn't stop us from talking about it, right?
I'll start off by saying that I am not overly worried about the Packers pass rush for 2026, even before Parsons returns. So I'm not in the "they HAVE to trade for Sweat" camp. I believe the Packers have enough chess pieces to manipulate, if Gannon does it right, to generate a top 15 pass rush without Parsons and a top 5-10 rush when he returns. But like Brian Gutekunst, I believe in turning over every rock and being in on every trade conversation. So I decided to dig a bit deeper on the possible circumstances of this specific player and trade. Some things I found truly surprised me.
Pros
~ Sweat has been in the league for 8 years, but will not turn 30 years old until next March.
~ He became a full-time starter in 2021, his fourth season with the Eagles, and first of two under Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.
~ He has started 86 out of 91 games since that 2021 season.
~ His three career best seasons all came under Jonathan Gannon (Eagles 2021-22, Cardinals 2025).
~ Sweat had the highest sack total of his career last season (12).
~ He averaged 32 snaps per game in 2025, compared with 38 for Rashan Gary.
~ Sweat is entering the second year of a 4-year, $76.4 million deal signed in 2025. The Cardinals paid Sweat a $7.22 million option bonus
in March, so if the Packers were to trade for him, he would only count $10.88 million on their cap for the 2026 season.
~ The final two years of his contract (2027 and 2028) carry no guaranteed money.
~ An NFL executive told Bill Huber he thinks Sweat could be had for a fifth round pick.
Cons
~ His snaps were managed last season due to some knee wear and tear.
~ He would take snaps away from Barryn Sorrell, who the Packers are keen on developing and potentially rookie draft pick Dani-Dennis-Dutton
~ The 10.88 million 2026 cap space used could be useful for extending players like Watson, Kraft and Wyatt.
Are there any cons I missed?
While Sweat's knee needs "management," he wouldn't be expected to be a full-time starter with Lukas Van Ness and Barryn Sorrell deserving of snaps, and quality backup pass rushers like Brenton Cox Jr. and rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton. The two seasons before last, Sweat averaged more snaps per game than Rashan Gary and his average snaps per game last year was adversely affected by a significant reduction in the last three games of the Cardinals' 3-14 season, when there was little reason to force him to play more.
The Packers can reasonably expect to have a total of five draft picks in 2027 over rounds four and five. Even giving up a fourth round pick, if that's what it would take, would not hurt too much.
The contract particulars I highlighted above make this move quite palatable from a financial standpoint, with the ability to get out of the contract in 2027 without too much pain if they so desire. This move would fall into the same type of 2026 "bring in a short-term veteran to replace a departing player" move that Gutey has executed this year (Zaire Franklin, Javon Hargrave, Tyrod Taylor).
As I said at the beginning of this article, I wasn't overly concerned about the Packers' pass rush. So when I sat down to write this article, I wasn't planning to present a case for the Packers trading for Josh Sweat, but after doing the research and weighing the pros and cons, that's kind of what I'm doing. It just makes so much sense, if as they claim, the Packers are "all-in" for 2026 (their version of all-in, not the Rams'!). Make the call, Gutey!
Go Pack Go!