The Green Bay Packers find themselves in a real good pickle as their wide receiver room is getting awfully crowded and competitive. Even as the new season looms, the shorthanded team grapples with issues of player discipline and injury. They’re on a separate, parallel mission to accomplish offensive stability. To snap harmony back into place, coach Matt LaFleur must navigate these complicated dynamics while trying to keep all players happy and effective.
Romeo Doubs, a potential young star at receiver, was just recently forced to sit for a game under the same banner of conduct unbecoming. Doubs has reportedly missed the last two days of practice and team meetings while letting it be known that he is unhappy with his current usage in the offense. His absence has raised concerns about team cohesion and individual accountability as the Packers strive for success in the upcoming season.
Christian Watson, perhaps his top receiver, is working his way back from right ACL replacement surgery performed in January. This further complicates the many challenges the team is facing. As for a return date, the Packers have ruled out Watson returning to the field until at least November. His loss leaves a huge hole in the receiving corps. Quarterback Jordan Love may be improving, but the offense still lacks playmakers, with the team’s last 1,000-yard wideout being Davante Adams in 2021.
To strengthen the receiving corps, General Manager Brian Gutekunst went to the draft to infuse talent. He chose Matthew Golden with the 23rd pick overall. Along with Savion Williams in the third round, both players are set to take on prominent roles in the new offensive scheme. At the same time, Jayden Reed has emerged as a big play threat and top pass catcher in the receiving room. He’s led the team in catches and receiving yards over the last two seasons. Unsurprisingly, Reed’s breakout performance underscores a major potential for offensive growth. He understands the difficulty in distributing targets with so many playmakers in one room.
Specifically, Reed spoke about the unique challenge of demanding the ball when he’s competing with so many other talented pass-catchers for touches.
“Right now, it’s about making sure everybody gets acclimated, that’s definitely important just to get a rhythm and a chemistry with the quarterback,” – Jayden Reed
The communicative nature of this wide receiver group is impacted by the worst factor in any dynamic—differing degrees of success. Like Doubs, the other star of the preseason Watson is entering the final season of his rookie contract. This life-and-death situation invigorates their performances with urgency. He put together a remarkable academic year, recording 55 receptions while accumulating 857 receiving yards. Those are unrealistic expectations for any player, let alone a rookie. Unlike Doubs, he doesn’t care about personal achievements if the team isn’t doing well.
“It’s a lot of talent in our room. I think it’s selfish on my end to have goals because if I come up short, I’m not thinking about the team, I’m thinking about myself,” – Romeo Doubs
Even with Doubs’ clear commitment to team-first principles, the worry always lies in keeping morale high with a fiercely competitive set of players. Only Darnell Reed had more receptions and receiving yards last season for the Green Bay offense. He further pointed out that we can question if we really want coaches focused on player happiness.
“I don’t think the coaches care about keeping us happy,” – Tucker Kraft
“The beauty of our offense is you really don’t know necessarily who’s going to get the ball, and I think it really frees up the quarterback,” – Matt LaFleur
Most importantly, LaFleur echoed, it’s critical for players to adjust and identify themselves in this ever-changing, free-wheeling system.
“He doesn’t have to feel that pressure [of], ‘Oh I got to get this guy the ball,’ and it’s really on us as a staff to try to move these guys around and showcase what they can do,” – Matt LaFleur
As training camp continues, building up chemistry with the receivers and quarterback is the most important thing at this point. Most notably, Reed emphasized that maintaining high touches/targets early on will be important for converting practice success into game day performance.
“I think that’s very important to get touches and to get targets so it translates to Sunday. Yes, it is tough with all the guys we have, so we’ve just got to come out here, and it’s going to happen how it’s supposed to happen,” – Jayden Reed
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