Packers formally take over the Colby Wooden-for-Zaire Franklin swap, putting a starting Mike back inside their defense

The Green Bay Packers have officially completed a trade involving defensive lineman Colby Wooden and linebacker Zaire Franklin, according to Yahoo Sports’ report on Wednesday. The deal is notable less for the raw headline and more for what each player is expected to do in the structure of the Packers’ defense and the Colts’ defensive front and linebacker mix.

Per the report, Indianapolis will waive Wooden on Sunday earlier this offseason. Wooden had been headed into the final year of his rookie contract with the Colts, and the waiver component indicates that Green Bay’s return was about adding Franklin’s on-field role rather than continuing to hold Wooden as a protected asset.

The other side of the swap is Franklin, who is described in the report as having become Green Bay’s starting Mike linebacker after Quay Walker signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency. That change matters because the Mike is a call-and-coverage connector, a position that typically sits at the center of linebacker communication in base defenses and adjusts responsibilities when the offense changes its look.

Yahoo Sports also notes that Franklin received a new contract and was even named a team captain in the Packers’ preseason opener. Those details point to why Green Bay’s front office was willing to make this trade now instead of waiting for additional depth to develop naturally. In practice, it suggests the Packers viewed Franklin as a foundational piece for the season’s core calls, not simply a temporary starter.

For Indianapolis, dealing away a defensive lineman connected to the rookie contract window and moving toward a waiver decision can be part of a broader roster churn plan. Waiving a player after a trade is also a sign that the Colts’ priorities may be elsewhere on the defensive line, whether that involves giving snaps to other developing interior options or tightening the rotation for the front seven as training camp progresses.

What to watch next is how each team integrates the players it kept through camp. In Green Bay’s case, the question is whether Franklin continues to anchor the middle of the defense in the same way the report describes, especially as opponents build game plans around linebacker leverage and run fits. For Indianapolis, the focus shifts to how quickly the Colts can replace snaps and production from the defensive line after moving Wooden out, and whether the waiver decision is accompanied by internal promotion from their current depth.

The trade’s long-term impact may not fully show up until later in the preseason and into the regular season. With role-specific linebackers and defensive-line rotations, small early differences in run fits and pass coverage alignment can become obvious once teams start to settle into consistent game plans. Until then, the most direct measure of the deal will be who gets the clearest, most repeatable assignments on Sunday game-day and whether those decisions match the intent described in the report.