NFL 2023 trade deadline rumors: Chiefs, Packers, two other teams checking out wide receiver market, per report

Here's a look at the WRs these teams could be interested in

Halloween is in 11 days, which means it's about time to pick out a costume. For NFL teams, that means it's time to decide the direction of their franchise because October 31 is also the league's trade deadline this season. According to ESPN, the Indianapolis Colts, Green Bay Packers, Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs have all looked into the prospect of acquiring wide receiver help lately. Here is a look at four receivers who could be worth looking into over the next week-and-half.

The Big Fish

Davante Adams is one of the best wide receivers in football. His 17 receiving touchdowns are the most in the NFL since the start of the 2022 season. He has also been named a First-Team All-Pro in each of the last three seasons. However, his goal isn't to just be one of the great receivers of today. Adams wants to be known as one of the best wide receivers of all-time and conclude his football journey in Canton, Ohio as a Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee. 

Through his first nine NFL seasons, Adams recorded 769 receptions for 9,637 receiving yards and 87 receiving touchdowns. Only one other player in league history has topped 750 catches, 9,500 receiving yards and 85 receiving touchdowns in their first nine seasons: Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison. 

However, Adams' Hall of Fame trajectory may be in peril if he sticks around in Las Vegas for much longer.  He has gone three straight games without a touchdown or 100 yards receiving from Weeks 4-6. This also occurred in Weeks 13-15 last season, his first with the Raiders. The last time that happened to him as a Green Bay Packer, his NFL home for his first eight seasons from 2014-2021, was Weeks 14-17 of the 2015 season, his second year as a pro. 

Adams also hasn't been incredibly satisfied with the Raiders' team performance during their 3-3 start this season, saying, via KSNV News 3 Las Vegas, "You can win a game and look shitty, and we've done that too many times."

He initially came to the Raiders to win and keep putting up numbers in an effort to prove he can do both without Aaron Rodgers. Adams made one of his points with the First-Team All-Pro season in 2022. If he truly wants to win and keep his Hall of Fame dreams alive, he would be better off somewhere else. 

The underutilized revival candidate

Everything can change in two years in the NFL. In 2021, Hunter Renfrow totaled 103 catches for 1,038 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns to earn the first Pro Bowl selection of his career. Then, the Raiders rewarded him with a two-year, $32 million contract extension in the 2022 offseason. However, he just hasn't been fit in head coach Josh McDaniels' offense since 2022. His best attribute is his ability to ad-lib his routes and drift into open space to make himself available for his quarterback. 

McDaniels' offense is predicated on structure, and that has simply been a bad fit. This season, Renfrow has just six catches for 59 yards on nine targets despite playing in all six games. He has only been targeted twice in the last two weeks, including not at all in the Raiders' 21-17 win against the New England Patriots in Week 7, a game in which he had only seven offensive snaps. It doesn't help that Las Vegas signed former New England Patriot Jakobi Meyers to a three-year, $33 million contract this past offseason to play a similar role as Renfrow out of the slot. 

Renfrow is only 27, and he could still provide plenty of value to another team's offense should he be given a chance to succeed, something not currently present with McDaniels. 

Talent in a tough situation

The Denver Broncos are a mess in Year 1 under new head coach Sean Payton. They are off to a 1-5 start, tied for their worst six-game start in team history. The defense has allowed 33.3 points per games this season, the most in the NFL. Even when their defense does well, they still lose. Denver lost 19-8 at the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6. They have allowed fewer than 20 points in 12 games since the start of the 2022 season, but they have a record of 4-8 in those games. 

While Payton said the Broncos "aren't looking to do business" with their players before the trade deadline, they have already done so, flipping defensive lineman Randy Gregory to the San Francisco 49ers and releasing outside linebacker Frank Clark. 

Courtland Sutton (37 targets) and Jerry Jeudy (29 targets) have been the most utilized pass-catchers in Denver's offense this season, but Denver would be wise to attempt to flip them for more draft compensation. Sutton has four receiving touchdowns already this season, the same amount he had in each of the prior two seasons combined. Jeudy was the 15th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, so there may be some teams out there willing to bite on the 24-year-old given his draft pedigree. Both would be better suited elsewhere in a less dysfunctional environment.