A mechanism receives memory reads and writes from a packet processing engine, each memory access having an associated packet identifier. Upon receiving a memory read, conflict prediction logic determines if a future conflict with a memory write is likely, and if so the processing of the memory read is delayed. After the write to which the read depends is received, the delayed memory read is allowed to complete. Such a delayed read mechanism can reduce or eliminate work discarded due to memory conflicts detected after the fact, while preserving the sequential semantics of the packet processor. The conflict prediction logic can be used in conjunction with conflict detection in which write data is buffered and information associated with both reads and writes is recorded.