Doubs Among Day 3 Rookies in ‘Best Position to Produce in Year 1’

GREEN BAY, Wis. – It’s going to take a village to replace Davante Adams. The Green Bay Packers are hoping Romeo Doubs, one of their fourth-round draft picks, will be part of the group that helps Aaron Rodgers keep the passing game ticking.

While all eyes will be on second-round pick Christian Watson, Pro Football Focus listed Doubs as one of six Day 3 selections positioned to provide a major Year 1 impact.

“The former Nevada receiver was a big-time vertical threat in college because of his long speed and ball tracking,” wrote Anthony Treash as part of a larger summation. “The 6-foot-2, 204-pound wide receiver led college football in deep receiving touchdowns (15) from 2020 through 2021. With Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling — who combined for 52 deep targets in 2021 — changing teams this offseason, there will be plenty of downfield targets to go around. Both Watson and Doubs could put up solid numbers in this offense, considering their skill-sets.”

That long-ball skill was cited on Monday by former Nevada offensive coordinator Matt Mumme, who’s now the associate head coach at Colorado State.

“The first thing you’re going to notice about Romeo is he’s one of the best deep-ball-track guys I’ve ever seen,” Mumme said.

Last season, Doubs caught 12-of-25 deep balls (passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield), according to Pro Football Focus. He ranked 16th in the draft class in deep receptions. Often, those were true deep balls. The average distance of those passes traveled 37.0 yards, second-longest among receivers with at least 20 deep targets.

At Friday’s rookie minicamp practice, Doubs caught three deep passes during live periods. That led to what he called a “fun” professional practice debut.

“It’s not just being fast,” he said, “but making sure that you know the technique of just running a deep pattern, whether it’s a deep post up the middle, running a go ball, making sure you stack (defender), making sure you master the technique and fundamental work.”

Doubs isn’t a burner by the stopwatch. He didn’t test at the Scouting Combine or at Nevada’s pro day due to illness. He had a personal pro day before the draft; general manager Brian Gutekunst said the Packers clocked him in the “4.5s.”

“We’re very comfortable with his play speed,” he said. “I think you watch the tape, he plays fast, runs by a lot of people so we’re good there. The 40’s great but that play speed on tape is real.”

Green Bay Packers’ Receiver Depth Chart

Here is a look at the 12 receivers on the Green Bay Packers' roster.

Allen Lazard

Lazard is coming off the best season of his career. He caught 40-of-60 passes (66.7 percent) for 513 yards (12.8 average) and eight touchdowns. The catches, yards and touchdowns set career highs. He finished the season with a flourish. In the first 11 games, he had only one game of more than three catches. In the final six games, he had five-plus receptions for 70-plus yards three times. His five touchdown catches over the final five games were surpassed league-wide only by Adams.

Randall Cobb

Brought back at the urging of Aaron Rodgers, Cobb caught 28-of-39 targets (71.8 percent) for 375 yards (13.4 average) and five touchdowns. He delivered when needed. He had two-touchdown games against Pittsburgh and Arizona, and he was a huge part of the offense in a key win over the Rams before suffering a core-muscle injury that sidelined him for the final six games. He had zero drops and a 144.2 passer rating when targeted.

Sammy Watkins

The fourth pick of the 2014 NFL Draft by Buffalo, Watkins looked like one of the next great receivers when he caught 65 passes for 982 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie and 60 passes for 1,047 yards and nine touchdowns during his second season. He’s topped 40 receptions only once the past six seasons. He had 27 catches but six drops last year for Baltimore.

Amari Rodgers

A third-round pick out of Clemson, Rodgers was shoved to the backburner because of the return of Cobb and caught 4-of-8 passes for 45 yards (11.3 average) with zero touchdowns and one drop. On special teams, he averaged 8.3 yards per punt return and 18.1 yards per kickoff return. On punt returns, simply catching the ball was an adventure at times, though he got better in that phase at the end of the season and wound up with seven returns of 15-plus yards.

Juwann Winfree

A sixth-round pick by Denver in 2019, Winfree turned heads with a string of excellent practices while the veterans stayed away from the offseason workouts. He caught the first eight passes of his career, which he turned into 58 yards, but fumbled twice. Those were the only fumbles by a Packers receiver on offense the entire season. He also had one of the nine drops charged to Green Bay’s receivers.

Malik Taylor

Taylor caught two passes for 14 yards at the end of the 38-3 loss to New Orleans in Week 1. He never saw the ball the rest of the season. Heck, he barely saw the field the rest of the season. In 10 games, he played 32 snaps on offense – 15 in Week 1 and never more than five thereafter.

Chris Blair

Blair went undrafted in 2020 and spent most of last season on the practice squad. As a senior at Alcorn State in 2019, he caught 44 passes for 931 yards and seven touchdowns. His 21.2-yard average ranked sixth in FCS.

Christian Watson

Starring at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, Watson caught 43 passes for 801 yards (18.6 average) and seven touchdowns as a senior. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns as a junior and was a second-team All-American as a senior. For his career, he averaged 20.4 yards per reception. At 6-foot-4 and with 4.36 speed, the Packers traded their two second-round picks to Minnesota to move up to No. 34 overall.

Romeo Doubs

The Packers used a fourth-round pick on Doubs, who caught 224 passes for 3,322 yards (14.8 average) and 26 touchdowns in four seasons at Nevada. He had 40-plus receptions in every season and 1,000-plus yards as a junior and senior. In 2021, he caught 80 balls for 1,109 yards (13.9 average) and 11 touchdowns. Plus, he averaged 12.5 yards per punt return with one touchdown in four seasons.

Samori Toure

The final member of Green Bay’s 11-man draft class, Toure opened his career at Montana. He redshirted in 2016, scored 20 touchdowns from 2017 through 2019, and didn’t play in 2020 as the FCS season was canceled by COVID. He transferred to Nebraska for his super-senior season and caught 46 passes for 898 yards (19.5 average) and five touchdowns.

Rico Gafford

Gafford played his final two seasons of college football at Wyoming, where he intercepted two passes as a junior and four passes as a senior to earn all-Mountain West Conference honors. He went undrafted in 2018 and shifted to receiver with the Raiders. Both career receptions (and his first career touchdowns) came in 2019. At Wyoming’s pro day, he ran his 40 in 4.22 seconds.

Danny Davis

An undrafted rookie, Davis tallied 131 receptions for 1,642 yards (12.5 average) and 14 touchdowns at Wisconsin. After missing most of the 2020 season with a head injury, he caught 32 balls for 478 yards (14.9 average) and two touchdowns in 2021.