On an otherwise unsuspecting Saturday, the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts made the rare player-for-player trade, swapping Zaire Franklin and Colby Wooden just before the start of the 2026 NFL league year.
That's right, as teams assemble their free agency boards, make sure their books are in good spots, and decide which position they need to target in March versus the 2026 NFL Draft in April, the Packers and Colts each made a move to improve their roster now at the expense of a defender they felt was expendable, filling in at least one box on their roster before the market opens up on the 11th.
While both teams want to finish off the 2026 NFL season with a Super Bowl parade in their respective city, this trade addresses their needs in very different ways, with one going all-in on a win-now player, while the other opted to bet more on long-term upside in a league that values certain defensive positions very differently than others.
The Packers go all-in on a Super Bowl now
When the Packers traded two first-round picks for Micah Parsons, it was the sort of all-in move that could make or break a Super Bowl run.
While the first year of the Parsons era ended in disappointment, albeit due to injury instead of poor play, the Packers have to be a favorite to win the NFC North and maybe even the NFC as a whole should they remain healthy come January.
The addition of Franklin absolutely adds to that equation.
A former seventh-round pick out of Syracuse, Fraklin is an ideal inside linebacker option next to 2024 second-round pick Edgerrin Cooper and Parsons, who can play all over a defensive front. He's appeared in all but one game over the past four seasons, has recorded at least 125 tackles per season over that sample size, and in 2024, led the NFL in tackles at 173 on the way to his first and only Pro Bowl appearance.
With Quay Walker set to hit free agency after a good but not great tenure with the Packers, Franklin could immediately slot into a starting role in Jonathan Gannon's defense next to Cooper, providing a steady presence in the run game as a down-hill thumper while his partner-in-crime builds on two impressive seasons as a coverage linebacker.
With two years left on a cost-controlled, three-year, $31.26 million extension he signed in 2024, Franklin may never become one of the elite inside linebackers the NFL has to offer, but he is a very good one, and for a team like the Packers, that's what they need right now.
Packers Trade Grade: A
The Colts bet on Colby Wooden's upside
In 2025, the Colts' run defense was one of their better units, with the team allowing the seventh-fewest rushing yards in the NFL during the regular season.
Fortunately, Indianapolis is bringing back many of their best defensive linemen, with the dynamic down-lineman duo of DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart, arguably the best one-two punch in the NFL, but with the duo both in their 30s, the day will eventually come when the Colts need to find some young talent to step into bigger roles in Lou Anarumo's defense.
Could Wooden be that player?
A fourth-round pick out of Auburn, Wooden had a breakout season in 2025, leading all Packers defensive linemen in tackles while playing a career-high 587 snaps – more than his 2023 and 2024 snap totals combined. Standing 6-foot-4, 273 pounds, Wooden is a super athlete, running a 4.79 40-yard dash at the combine to go with a 4.52 shuttle and a 115-inch broad jump.
Is Wooden a finished product? No, he is more of a run stuffer than a pass rusher at this stage of his career, and has just .5 sacks and nine tackles for loss over his three-year career, but after showing he can be a 500-plus snap player in 2025 in Green Bay's 4-3 scheme, Wooden could be a very interesting piece in Anarumo's system, playing as a defensive end next to Buckner and Stewart, or kicking it inside as a rotational defensive tackle.
Will Wooden ever outperform Franklin from a production standpoint? It's hard to say, but given that defensive linemen hold far more value in the modern NFL than inside linebackers, it makes sense that the Colts would be willing to give it a try.
Colts Trade Grade: B
