Packers Might Have to Turn to Plan C at Receiver
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers traded their No. 1 receiver in February. What happens if their new No. 1 receiver, Allen Lazard, isn’t available for Sunday’s season-opening game at the Vikings?
“There’s about five guys that we kind of expect to be in the mix consistently playing receiver for us and, if one of them goes down, then the other four better be ready,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on Monday.
Lazard sustained an ankle injury when he was stepped on at practice last week. He did not practice on Wednesday, adding an additional layer of uncertainty to the Packers’ uncertain receiver outlook.
If Lazard is inactive, it would leave Randall Cobb as the only receiver with any significant history with Rodgers. Cobb and Sammy Watkins, the team’s lone addition in free agency, would be joined by rookies Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs as the primary receivers.
For the past few years, Davante Adams commanded the lion’s share of the passing-game targets because coach Matt LaFleur and Rodgers would align him as the No. 1 read on most passing plays. That meant 80 percent of the passing plays flowed through Adams. In a passing game reshaped in the wake of the Adams trade, that No. 1 read could be Lazard on one play, Watkins on the next and Watson on the play after.
“I know they talk about a 1, but you look at this offense, everybody’s a 1 depending on what you’re in – whether you’re the first read, the second read,” Watkins said. “But I know Allen Lazard’s their guy. That’s how it’s supposed to be. If those opportunities come to me, I’ll make those plays, but collectively we’re all a 1. I’ve got to go out there and play my part, play physical and play fast. Whenever my number is called, make those plays.”
Perhaps the football adage that if you have two quarterbacks you don’t have any doesn’t apply at receiver. A passing game forced to become more diversified without Adams could become even more unpredictable – for better or worse – if Lazard is out.
Regardless of Lazard’s status, Rodgers will rely on the dual-threat talents of running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon and the return of tight end Robert Tonyan, who scored 11 touchdowns while failing to catch only seven targets in 2020, to field an efficient passing game.
“He looks great,” Rodgers said of Tonyan, who missed the second half of last season with a torn ACL. “He’s really gifted. He has great hands. He’s a really intuitive route runner. He’s got great instincts. He’s made a couple plays in practice that [are] just different than what we’ve had from those other guys in his absence, and it’s no disrespect to those guys. It’s just that the level that he’s capable of playing at is at that Pro Bowl caliber level, so we’ve got to get him feeling healthy and playing like he was playing a couple years ago and get him going early.”
No doubt the Packers would love ease Watson and Doubs into action rather than having to rely on them in the Minneapolis pressure cooker. However, if Lazard can’t go, the Packers might not have any choice but to give the rookies a bigger-than-desired role.
Ready or not.
“The speed is amped up,” Rodgers said. “They felt the other day, I think, what me in a game-like situation is like – my energy, the expectation, the tempo with which we play at. Look, they know what the expectations are. We’re not going to put them in positions to not be successful, but there’s going to be opportunities for them when they get out there to make plays, and I’m confident they’re going to make the plays that are available.”
