Stats for Packers Third-Round Pick Amari Rodgers

“He fills so many holes for us, and that’s one of the reasons why we traded up for him,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
May 4, 2021 11:37 PM EDT

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers used their third-round draft pick on Clemson receiver Amari Rodgers. Here’s a look at Rodgers’ four-year career.

Amari Rodgers’ Stats at Clemson

A three-year starter, Rodgers concluded his career with 181 receptions for 2,144 yards (13.2 average) and 15 touchdowns. The bulk of that production came as a senior, when he led the ACC with 77 receptions. He turned those into 1,020 yards (13.2 average) and seven touchdowns. In two games against Notre Dame, he caught 16 passes for 255 yards and a 67-yard touchdown.

Rodgers finished his Clemson career ranked sixth in receptions, 12th in receiving yards and 14th in receiving touchdowns. He added a ho-hum 7.8-yard average on punt returns with one touchdown, and is one of only five Clemson players since 2000 to score touchdowns by rush, reception and punt return in his career.

“He fills so many holes for us, and that’s one of the reasons why we traded up for him,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “Not only as a punt returner and a slot receiver, but as you guys have seen over the past couple years the creativity that Matt (LaFleur) has within his offense, some of the jet sweeps and screens. I think kick returning could be part of his arsenal, as well. I think he’s just built for us. He’s built for up here in Green Bay and he’s just a very versatile player, very smart player and we’re just really glad to add him to the roster.”

Going Beyond the Box Score

To Gutekunst’s point, LaFleur is excellent at getting his players in space so they can do their thing. That was the case for Rodgers at Clemson last year.

According to Pro Football Focus, Rodgers ranked second among receivers with 30 receptions on screens, third with 237 yards on screens, tied for 22nd with 8.0 YAC per catch and tied for seventh with 17 forced missed tackles. Sports Info Solutions had him fifth in the draft class in YAC per reception.

While Rodgers is short at 5-foot-9 1/2, he’s not small. He weighed 212 pounds at Clemson’s pro day. Rodgers was the 13th receiver selected. Only three were shorter than Rodgers but none outweighed him. So, he plays with the style of a running back, which showed up in run-after-catch numbers.

“I played running back in high school, so I have experience in the backfield,” he said. “I feel like I’m very confident if they want to hand me the ball off a little bit, I’ll be able to make something happen with it. At Clemson, I got jet sweeps but they were toss sweeps, so they counted as receptions. That’s probably why it also said it’s only six carries [for my career] but I kind of saw that as carries because it was in the backfield. Clemson, they did a good job of finding different ways to get me the ball on reverse sweeps and stuff like that, too. I have no doubt Green Bay is going to be able to do that as well, too.”

Interestingly, he ran 19 unique routes last season, tops in the nation, according to Sports Info Solutions, so perhaps he’s a more refined receiver than he’s been given credit. He dropped 6.1 percent of catchable passes in 2020 and 5.7 percent for his career, numbers that are right about on average.

“The main things that are my strengths [are] my hands, my route running, just the ability to make plays after I get the ball in my hands,” he said.