Unlike Rodgers, Love Inheriting Incredibly Young Pass-Catchers

New Green Bay Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love will face a much different scenario than Aaron Rodgers in 2008.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Apr 10, 2023 2:21 PM EDT

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When Aaron Rodgers took over as the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback in 2008, he inherited a proven group of pass catchers.

Sage veteran Donald Driver was entering his 10th season in the NFL. A three-time Pro Bowler, he was 33 but coming off a fourth consecutive 1,000-yard season. He was joined by Greg Jennings (third season), James Jones (second season) and Jordy Nelson (rookie). The primary tight ends were Donald Lee, a sixth-year pro who was coming off a 48-catch season, Tory Humphrey (third season) and Jermichael Finley (rookie).

Jordan Love will not have that luxury. For better or worse, he’ll be growing on the fly with what might wind up being the youngest group of receivers and tight ends in the NFL.

Green Bay has five wide receivers and four tight ends under contract. Of the receivers, none are older than 25. Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Samori Toure and Bo Melton were drafted in 2022. Those second-year players are joined by Jeff Cotton, who’s officially a first-year player.

“I think some veteran leadership would be nice,” coach Matt LaFleur told reporters at the recent NFL meetings.

Of the four tight ends, only Tyler Davis and Josiah Deguara have played in a game. The oldest, Nick Guggemos, is 27 and has a resume consisting of one college reception. The final tight end, Austin Allen, entered the NFL in 2022.

In electing not to re-sign receiver Allen Lazard (and perhaps Randall Cobb) and tight end Robert Tonyan (and perhaps Marcedes Lewis), general manager Brian Gutekunst opted to let Love forge relationships and chemistry with the young receivers rather than having him try to build harmony with players who played thousands of snaps with Aaron Rodgers.

It’s perhaps the right route to go as the Packers embark on a new future, but it’s left an almost-comical lack of proven firepower for Love.

Here are the career statistics for the remaining receivers and tight ends.

WR Romeo Doubs: 42 receptions, 425 yards, three touchdowns

WR Christian Watson: 41 receptions, 611 yards, seven touchdowns

WR Samori Toure: 5 receptions, 82 yards, one touchdown

WR Bo Melton: 0 receptions

WR Jeff Cotton: 0 receptions

TE Josiah Deguara: 39 receptions, 371 yards, two touchdowns

TE Tyler Davis: 8 receptions, 61 yards, zero touchdowns

TE Austin Allen: 0 receptions

TE Nick Guggemos: 0 receptions

Total: 135 receptions, 1,550 yards, 13 touchdowns

For context, there have been five seasons in NFL history in which a receiver recorded more than 135 receptions.

That’s nothing compared to this history:

There have been 38 individual seasons of more than 1,550 receiving yards, including the Rams’ Cooper Kupp with 1,947 in 2021 and the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson with 1,809 in 2022.

Not only have there been 64 seasons of more than 13 touchdown receptions, but that combined total would rank eighth in Packers history and five less than Davante Adams’ franchise-record-tying 18 in 2020.

Not surprisingly considering all nine players are on rookie contracts, Green Bay’s receivers and tight ends have the lowest combined salary cap charge in the league at $9.41 million. That’s barely half of what Odell Beckham Jr. might earn with the Baltimore Ravens. The Tennessee Titans are next at $12.56 million. It’s a huge divide from there. The Carolina Panthers have the third-lowest charge at $21.19 million – more than double Green Bay’s accounting.

The Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals are at more than $60 million.

Combined, Green Bay’s receivers have a cap charge of $5.53 million. That’s the lowest in the NFL and about $20 million less than the league median. Individually, 39 receivers have higher 2023 cap charges than all of the Green Bay receivers combined. That includes former Packers Davante Adams ($14.7 million) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling ($11 million).

Combined, the tight ends have a cap charge of $3.88 million. That’s the third-lowest in the NFL – about $300,000 more than the Lions’ league-lowest payday and about $7 million less than the league median.

In NFC North cap dollars, the Bears are paying their receivers and tight ends $39.54 million, the Vikings are at $28.14 million and the Lions are the fourth-least expensive at $21.28 million.

The Philadelphia Eagles, the reigning NFC champs, have a receiver-tight end cap charge of $30.37 million. The San Francisco 49ers, who lost to the Eagles in the NFC title game, have a combined cap charge of $39.65 million. The Kansas City Chiefs have gifted MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes with receivers and tight ends taking $38.08 million of cap space.

Of course, cheap doesn’t mean bad. It only means young and unproven. The combination of Watson, Doubs and whatever receivers/tight ends the Packers draft could be exceptional. And Love will get plenty of support from the top-flight duo of running backs Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon.