If you’ve been taking a Rip Van Winkle-like nap since March 17 and this is the first thing you’re reading since waking up, the Packers traded star receiver Davante Adams to the Raiders. The Chiefs also backed up the Brinks truck for receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency.
So the Packers don’t have a proven No. 1 wide receiver for Aaron Rodgers right now. In their stead, guys like Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Sammy Watkins, who have stepped up before in the NFL, will need to do so again to a higher degree. They have two rookies in Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, who flashed in the OTAs but face the fact that rookie receivers haven’t thrived with Rodgers when it counts. They also have Amari Rodgers, the second-year slot receiver who struggled in 2021 but will get another chance in Green Bay’s offense in 2022.
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Who knows, maybe they’ll bring in another receiver — Julio Jones? — who is still a free agent and would provide size, speed and a red-zone threat for the best quarterback he has ever played with, joining a receiver room that could use all those things.
Packers wideouts coach Jason Vrable’s group enters the 2022 season accompanied by hype lower than the underground players parking lot being built at Lambeau Field. That said, the Packers also have a quarterback more than capable of making any of those aforementioned players better than they seem on paper.
“I really don’t care,” Cobb said of people doubting the Packers receivers. “I’ve been doubted my whole life. You think I care? I wouldn’t be here. People don’t want me here. I’m here. People didn’t want me to leave. I’m here. People didn’t want me on the Packers. I’m here. People don’t want me traded back here. I’m here. I don’t care what anybody has to say. I’m going to go out and do what I’m supposed to do and have fun doing it, put a smile on my face and try to win some games.”
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Why do Packers fans not have faith in the current crop of wide receivers?
Well, for one, they had only one receiver among the top 85 in receiving yards last season, and that receiver is no longer on the team. Adams finished third in the NFL (1,553), Lazard 87th (513), Valdes-Scantling 112th, Cobb tied for 126th (375), Winfree 328th (58) and Amari Rodgers tied for 348th (45). Watkins finished 121st in his season with the Ravens (394), one spot ahead of Packers running back Aaron Jones (391).
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Watkins hasn’t played a full season since his rookie year in 2014, and Watson and Doubs have never played an NFL snap, let alone one with a quarterback who demands a lot from his wide receivers. While Lazard and Cobb are known commodities even if they’re not bona fide depth-chart toppers, the newcomers are massive question marks.
On the other hand, why might Packers fans have faith in the Packers receivers?
Remember when Cobb caught two touchdown passes in a 24-21 win over the previously undefeated Cardinals last season when Adams, Valdes-Scantling and Lazard were out? Or when Lazard caught six passes for 146 yards and a touchdown when Adams was out in a 37-30 win over the Saints in Week 3 of the 2020 season? Or how Watkins’ best seasons in the NFL have come with him working with Vrable (with the Bills) or Packers head coach Matt LaFleur (with the Rams)? OK, maybe that’s a stretch — he needs to stay healthy more than anything — but you get the point.
In the last five games of the 2021 season, only Adams had more touchdown catches than Lazard, who had five. Before Cobb suffered a core muscle injury at the end of the first half against the Rams in Week 12, which sidelined him for the remainder of the regular season, he caught four passes for 95 yards and a touchdown in the first half against the eventual Super Bowl champions. The last time Watkins played more than 14 games, he caught eight touchdowns with the Rams in 2017 with LaFleur as his offensive coordinator.
These aren’t beat writers Rodgers is throwing to. They’re capable NFL wide receivers who may not be stars, but they’ve delivered in big moments and have a back-to-back MVP throwing to them.
“I like production over potential,” Rodgers said. “We have some production. We have a lot of potential. So we need to temper expectations and heighten the accountability. I think that’s the most important thing for those guys. There are guys who’ve done some things in the league and there are guys that haven’t and they’re going to get opportunities, so reasonable expectations for those guys and then high expectations and accountability for the entire room.
“Excited about Randall. We’ve played a lot of football together. Excited about Sammy. Excited about Allen Lazard. He’s been our dirty-work guy for most of his career here, now he’s getting an opportunity to be a No. 1 receiver, so I’m not worried about him at all stepping into that role.”
Aaron Rodgers is going for his third consecutive NFL MVP Award this season.
This time though, he'll try to do it without arguably the game’s best wide receiver.
"The offense has to change."@mattschneidman previews the Packers' QB room.https://t.co/ECIRuoS7UK
— The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL) June 28, 2022
The Packers likely will keep either six or seven receivers on their initial 53-man roster. There figure to be six locks to make that squad: Lazard, Cobb, Watson, Doubs, Rodgers and Watkins after how LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers talked about him this offseason. Maybe they add Winfree or Taylor for special teams purposes or sign a free-agent wideout for the seventh spot and cut a defensive lineman, offensive lineman or cornerback from the bottom of the depth chart.
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However the room shakes out come Sept. 11 in Minneapolis, the Packers won’t have a shortage of options for Rodgers to target. He’s not required to pass strictly to wide receivers, after all. Jones is one of the best pass-catching running backs in the NFL, and fellow back AJ Dillon made impressive strides in that area last season. Robert Tonyan, who tied for the league lead among tight ends with 11 touchdown catches in 2020, will be back, too.
By no means are the Packers better off without Adams and Valdes-Scantling, even if their departures make the passing game less predictable. But the sky isn’t falling just yet in Green Bay.
(Photo of Randall Cobb: Mark Hoffman / USA Today)
