Davis returns to heated receiver battle

The battle for the final spots at receiver, in essence, started on Sunday.

Receiver/returner Trevor Davis, who had been out since sustaining a stinger during the first joint practice against Houston on Aug. 5, was back on the field.

Davis is the wild card in a derby that includes Equanimeous St. Brown, Allen Lazard and Darrius Shepherd for a spot or spots behind the presumed top four of Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Geronimo Allison and Jake Kumerow.

A fifth-round pick in 2016, Davis has made almost no impact as a receiver with eight career receptions. However, in 2017, he was third in the NFL with a 12.0-yard average on punt returns. Increasing his value as a returner is he didn’t fumble all season. With Davis missing 15 games last season with multiple hamstring injuries, the Packers fielded the NFL’s worst special teams.

“At the end of the day, you can only control what you can control,” Davis said of the battle on Sunday. “I can’t worry about what the coaches and higher-up staff have to do. All I can do is go out and do my job. At the end of the day, it’s up to them and what they see on film.”

Shepherd, an undrafted free agent, built upon his impressive training camp and preseason resume by breaking two tackles on returns on Thursday at Baltimore. Along with two touchdown receptions, he’s averaging 25.5 yards per kickoff return and 6.3 yards per punt return. Lazard has four receptions for 90 yards and one touchdown in two games. St. Brown flashed promise as a rookie sixth-round pick last year and had a special-teams touchdown vs. Houston.

“He did good things,” special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga said on Saturday of Shepherd’s work on returns. “We gain confidence in him and he gains confidence in himself. He’s reliable. It’s not too big for him as a rookie. He won four national championships at North Dakota State. So, he’s got the good look in his eye, he’s always ready to go and will execute what we tell him to do.”

The one player that has the team’s obvious confidence on returns is Davis. That’s because he’s the only player on the roster who’s done it. Because of the injuries, however, that 2017 success is becoming more and more of a distant memory. In fact, with a new head coach and new special-teams coordinator, Davis’ history might be irrelevant.

“My feelings haven’t changed about Trevor,” Mennenga said. “I’m still high on him. He’s got a lot of ability at returner, but we’re trying to develop as many guys as we can back there. Get (them) some practice reps and, during the game, go with the guy who’s the hot hand and see what they can do.”