Watson, Doubs Could Keep Packers’ Tradition Alive

With a strong start to the season by Romeo Doubs and a historic stretch by Christian Watson, the future of the Green Bay Packers’ receiver corps looks bright.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Dec 12, 2022 3:40 PM EST
Original:
Dec 12, 2022

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – From 2008 through 2021, the first 14 seasons of Aaron Rodgers’ run as the starting quarterback, the Green Bay Packers got 13 touchdown receptions from their rookie receivers.

With four games remaining in this season, the rookie triumvirate of Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure have contributed 11.

“I think that room looks pretty bright moving forward,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said last week.

The offseason trade of Davante Adams left Green Bay’s receiver room riddled with uncertainty. First and foremost on that list was how quickly the three draft picks would emerge as consistent contributors. The answer is probably too late to save this season.

Individually, Watson and Doubs have shown a lot of promise. But injuries to one or the other have limited them to 52 snaps together. Combine that with disappointing play by the defense, underwhelming play by the special teams, uncertainty on the offensive line and pedestrian play by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Packers emerged from their Week 14 bye with a 5-8 record and on the far outskirts of the playoff race.

While this season sort of remains stuck in limbo – the longer the Packers stay in playoff contention, the worse their first-round draft pick will be – the elevator holding the receiver corps is moving up.

Doubs ranked among the rookie leaders in receptions before suffering an ankle injury on the first snap at Detroit in Week 9. When Doubs went down, Watson shot up with his almost unprecedented eight touchdowns the last four games.

Despite essentially missing the last five games, Doubs ranks sixth in the rookie class with 31 receptions, eighth with 314 yards and fifth with three touchdowns.

Despite not really bursting onto the scene until four games ago, Watson ranks seventh with 25 receptions, sixth with 401 yards and first with seven touchdowns. Of the 17 rookies with five receptions, he’s fourth with a 16.0-yard average.

In limited playing time, Toure has five receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown. Among the rookies with five receptions, he’s second with his 16.4-yard average on the strength of a touchdown at Buffalo and a circus catch at Detroit.

“It would be nice to get all those guys out there at the same time and get opportunities,” Gutekunst said. “Obviously, Allen (Lazard) and Cobby (Randall Cobb) and Sammy (Watkins) have done some good things for us, too. It’s a little bit of a crowded room but I do think I’m very high on those guys’ ceilings and what they could do as a group.”

With an incredible run of touchdowns, Watson looks like a potential field-tilting weapon, the type of player who is ready, willing and able to score on any play. Watson and the Hall of Famer Randy Moss are the only rookie receivers in NFL history with eight touchdowns from scrimmage in a span of four games. Watson, Moss and Odell Beckham Jr. are the only rookies during the Super Bowl era with seven touchdown catches in a span of four games.

With a touchdown catch and a touchdown run against Chicago, Watson joined Hall of Famers Johnny “Blood” McNally and Don Hutson as the only players in franchise history with seven-plus receiving touchdowns and two-plus rushing touchdowns in a season. His seven touchdown catches are the most by a Packers rookie since Max McGee had nine in 1954.

Throughout his career, Rodgers has thrown to strong receiver corps. Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson and Adams were stars, and James Jones and Cobb were excellent sidekicks. The arrival of Watson and Doubs might not have come soon enough for this season, but they’ve got a chance to keep the tradition alive.

“I think this is going back to training camp. We need to be careful of putting certain expectations on guys,” Rodgers said last week. “I think the possibility’s there, for sure. But they’re going to have to grow between Years 1 and 2. The rookie year is such a long year. You go right from the end of your college season to training for the Combine or training for your pro day, right into offseason training with your new team and a long season.

“And then the first offseason is like the first time you get to breathe, to take some time and reset and kind of figure out how you want to go about your life as a professional. You get to make your own schedule, travel if you want to, set up your own workout style and all these new decisions come into play. Guys who make the jump are able to handle that offseason time and that bit about being a professional. Those guys have the opportunity to be really good players in this league.”