Perfect Packers Offseason Preview: Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and Receivers
GREEN BAY, Wis. – What a difference about 11 months can make. Less than a year ago, the Green Bay Packers had major questions at receiver following the free-agent departures of Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb.
No, they weren’t stars, but they were proven players. The Packers didn’t have a single proven playmaker. As rookies, Christian Watson had three games of 50-plus yards and Romeo Doubs had no catches of longer than 26 yards and didn’t break a single tackle. And they were supposed to lead the next-generation Packers passing attack?
There are no such questions now. The NFL’s youngest and cheapest receiver corps might be the deepest and best position on the team.
Here is our perfect offseason overview.
The Depth Chart
How deep is the receiver room? The Packers thrived even with Christian Watson being limited to nine games with hamstring injuries.
Watson is incredibly talented. He just needs to get on the field and stay on the field so he can stack performances. He went from 41 receptions for 611 yards (14.9 average) and seven touchdowns with a 62.1 percent catch rate and 6.4 YAC per catch in 2022 to 28 receptions for 412 yards (15.1 average) and five touchdowns with a 52.8 percent catch rate and 4.1 YAC in 2023.
In 30 career regular season games through two seasons, Romeo Doubs had one game of 80-plus yards – a largely irrelevant nine receptions for 95 yards in the blowout loss to Detroit in Week 4. Then came the playoffs, with a dominant six catches for 151 yards at Dallas and four receptions for 83 yards at San Francisco. A superb route-runner, Doubs is a bit of a conundrum as a receiver with superb hands yet too many drops.
The rookie tandem of Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks could hardly have been better.
Reed could be one of those heart-and-soul players. A second-round pick and the sixth receiver off the board, he’s just so tough and productive. Reed set Packers and NFL records for rookie production. As good as in-his-prime Randall Cobb was, Reed could be better.
At Virginia, Wicks was great in 2021 and bad in 2022. The Packers got the good version with a mere fifth-round pick. During his final three regular-season games and the playoff win at Dallas, Wicks caught 16-of-18 passes and scored four touchdowns. With powerful legs, he led the team in YAC and missed tackles.
The low-key story of the year was the emergence of Bo Melton. Beaten out by 2022 seventh-rounder Samori Toure and undrafted rookie Malik Heath during training camp, Melton was summoned off the bench for the stretch run. A seventh-round pick by Seattle in 2022, Melton’s first career catch came in Game 14 against Tampa Bay. Over the final three games, he caught 15 passes for 211 yards and one touchdown. He added a 19-yard touchdown in the playoffs at San Francisco.
Heath caught 18 passes – all in the final eight games with at least one catch in each of those games. His ability and desire to block will give him a role. What he lacks in pure athleticism, he makes up for in mentality.
Free Agency
Free agency will be completely irrelevant. After losing Lazard and Cobb last offseason and trading Davante Adams and losing Marquez Valdes-Scantling the previous offseason, everybody – Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Bo Melton, Malik Heath and Samori Toure all will return for 2024. So will 2023 seventh-rounder Grant DuBose, who spent his rookie year on the practice squad.
Big Question
Do the Packers have a No. 1 receiver? And does it even matter?
While not everyone will agree on who’s on the list, just about everyone will agree with the basic definition of a No. 1 receiver. A No. 1 is Davante Adams – a player who keeps opposing defensive coordinators up all night but is capable of putting up monster numbers every week because they have elite traits and an elite mindset.
The perception is the Packers don’t have a No. 1 receiver. “I really have no respect for them,” Bears safety Jaquan Brisker said after the Packers won in Week 18. “No one’s over there. They have no stars over there.”
Statistically speaking, Brisker is right. Reed was the team’s leader with 64 receptions for 793 yards. Those numbers ranked 48th and 42, respectively. Exactly three-fourths of the teams had a 1,000-yard receiver. The Packers, Broncos, Giants and Patriots were the only teams without an 800-yard receiver.
But perception isn’t always reality. Do the Packers not have a No. 1 receiver? Do they have a No. 1 receiver in waiting? Multiple No. 1s?
Or are those questions irrelevant? The Chiefs traded their No. 1 receiver, Tyreek Hill, and won back-to-back Super Bowls. Yes, it helps to have Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. But maybe Jordan Love and an embarrassment of riches will be enough.
A Perfect Offseason
Nothing is more important for the position group than the future of Christian Watson’s hamstrings. Jordan Love was good, with or without Watson, but Watson is the unit’s threat to score on every play. Plus, he’s a high-quality blocker. Between sending Watson to specialists and the new strength and conditioning coach, perhaps Watson and the Packers will find the necessary answers to maximize his immense potential.
“We’re looking into a bunch of different things. Not only with him but some other players that have struggled with some of the soft-tissue kind of injuries,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said earlier this month. “Sometimes, I think it’s just young players going to the National Football League and learning their bodies and learning what they can and can’t do and how they have to train, so I think there’s some of that going on, as well.
“We’ve seen a ton of instances where there’s young players have struggled with some of those things early in their careers and then they get to a point where they overcome it and then they get into a really good rhythm. I think Davante was one of those guys. They learn their training routines and their process individually, and that can cure some of those things.”
