The Green Bay Packers’ running game has collapsed through three weeks, and a midseason trade for New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara is one of the more logical ways to repair it before the Nov. 10 deadline.
The Packers are 1-2 after a 35-14 home loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. They rushed for 17 yards on nine carries.
Green Bay is averaging 48.7 rushing yards per game, last in the NFL. MarShawn Lloyd, Kaleb Johnson and Chris Brooks have split the work with starter Josh Jacobs on the commissioner’s exempt list.
None of the remaining backs has provided a consistent spark. Lloyd leads the team with 68 rushing yards. Johnson, acquired from Pittsburgh on cutdown day, has 38. Brooks has 40.
That vacuum is why Kamara’s name keeps surfacing. The 31-year-old is in a reduced role behind Travis Etienne after taking a pay cut to stay in New Orleans on a one-year deal worth $6 million, with incentives up to $8.5 million.
Kamara is no longer a 1,200-yard workhorse. He missed Week 1 with a sprained MCL and managed 15 rushing yards and seven receiving yards in his season debut at Baltimore.
He still offers something Green Bay does not have: a proven three-down back who can catch the ball out of the backfield and keep an offense on schedule when the line is struggling.
Kamara has more than 12,000 career yards from scrimmage and five Pro Bowl selections. In 2024 he rushed for 950 yards and added 543 receiving yards. Even in an injury-shortened 2025, he remained a dual threat.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love has been forced into pass-heavy scripts. Green Bay attempted 53 passes Thursday. A reliable checkdown and short-yardage option would take pressure off Love and a battered line that lost right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele for the season.
New Orleans, 1-1, signed Etienne to a four-year contract in free agency and already has extra bodies in the backfield. Trading Kamara after June 1 also would ease future cap complications created by earlier restructures.
The cost should be modest. Analysts have projected a late-round pick, the same range general manager Brian Gutekunst used to acquire Johnson.
Kamara would not fix the Packers’ blocking by himself. He would give coach Matt LaFleur a veteran who understands protection, route concepts and clock management.
Green Bay’s remaining schedule before the deadline includes Tampa Bay, Chicago, Dallas and Detroit. Waiting much longer risks falling too far behind in the NFC North, where Minnesota is 2-0 entering Week 3.
The Packers already have tried cheap additions and internal competition. The results are last in rushing and a 14-point home opener that drew boos at Lambeau Field.
A Kamara trade would be a calculated bet that a declining but still versatile back can stabilize a position that has gone from strength to liability in three weeks. Whether New Orleans listens will depend on Etienne’s health and the Saints’ standing.
For Green Bay, the need in the backfield is no longer theoretical.
