Cory's Corner: Pick Your Poison
This is the best group of pass catchers in Green Bay since 2010. There are so many young and inexperienced guys that have already proven so much.
It’s easy to take the Packers pass catchers for granted. This could be the best collection of Packers receiving talent since 2010.
Granted, there is no Davante Adams — the No. 2 receiver in Packers history — but the Packers have the deepest stable of receivers this franchise has ever seen.
Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft accounted for 43 percent of Green Bay’s targets last year. Here’s the crazy thing: all those guys were rookies. Romeo Doubs had 105 targets and Christian Watson had 56 in their sophomore seasons last year.
That’s six guys. And there is also Bo Melton, who wowed everyone last year after being on the Packers practice squad until Thanksgiving. He was elevated to the 53-man roster once again before the New Year’s Eve game at Minnesota and was the first Packers receiver to have a 100-yard receiving game last season. Over the last three weeks, the former seventh round pick had 15 catches for 211 yards and a touchdown.
“It’s been pretty cool to see a guy like that, that probably most of you have never really heard of, to see him get an opportunity to go out there and perform at a high level,” said Packers coach Matt LaFleur last season.
Those are seven guys and I’m not even counting Josh Jacobs or AJ Dillon — both guys that expect to be involved in the passing game. So now we are up to nine guys. How many guys can opposing defenses keep an eye on?
Not to mention, if defenses choose to double Doubs, Watson or Reed, all the rest of those guys are going to feast.
And Jordan Love is the perfect director to lead that versatile choir. He completed passes to 10 different receivers on Nov. 19 last year in a 23-20 win over the Chargers. Love isn’t going to force it. If you’re open, he’s going to find you, which puts more of an onus on the pass catchers.
This is one of the best times to celebrate Packers receivers. And the best reason is because the majority of them are overachievers. Nobody expected guys like Doubs, who was a fourth round pick, Wicks, a fifth rounder and Kraft a third rounder to blossom this much this fast.
The Packers get more with less from a group that is on the verge of getting even better. Every single one of these guys is hungry. From Watson wanting to have a huge year to prove all the doubters wrong about how he can be resilient in the face of hamstring injuries to Reed being able to prove that he can be a consistent threat despite being 5-foot-11.
Go ahead and pick your poison. This fleet of pass catchers is going to make you pay.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE.
__________________________
Cory Jennerjohn is a graduate from UW-Oshkosh and has been in sports media for over 15 years. He was a co-host on "Clubhouse Live" and has also done various radio and TV work as well. He has written for newspapers, magazines and websites. He currently is a columnist for CHTV and also does various podcasts. He recently earned his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. He can be found on Twitter: @Coryjennerjohn
__________________________
Comments (19)
Guam
June 18, 2024 at 06:56 am
"And Jordan Love is the perfect director to lead that versatile choir."
Thats the part I like the most. The Packers have a QB who throws to the open guy which makes all of the receivers dangerous targets. This is such a refreshing change from the final years of Rodgers who had acute "Dantevision" and eschewed rookie receivers like they had the plague. I'm not sure when that change happened because Rodgers used to throw to everybody but morphed into a much more predictable QB in his later years.
LaFleur has the perfect combination of a QB who sees the whole field and a stable of talented receivers to catch the ball. This could be a very diversified and potent offense.
Matt
June 18, 2024 at 04:46 pm
I was sick of it too. I think we dropped from two playoffs because of this fact (open Lazard). I also thought about the reason behind it and I think it was the special chemistry with Davante. They were both elite and the further they went together they needed each other more in terms of trust, understanding and quality. This addiction gave good results for 90% of the time but killed Rodgers performance in crucial moments because he became predictable. Sometimes picking the best player doesn't mean picking the best solution. Too bad such a genius QB didn't realize this.
stockholder
June 18, 2024 at 07:01 am
Faster is better!
It opens up MLF offense.
Watson is my choice.
Double teaming him, says it all.
T7Steve
June 18, 2024 at 07:03 am
I don't know who invented the #1 receiver and the progression after that, but I'm glad we can't tell how they progress on this team and more importantly no one else can either.
Watching the plays progress on Dusty's "Passing Chronicles" there's always seems to be more than one guy open. Early last season, Love seemed to take the wide-open easy pass option. Later when they got more dialed in, he started taking the plays that got the yards or the TDs not just the easy completions. I think it was a combination of the O-line getting better and he and his receivers working better together.
If Love will continue to learn from his mistakes (like 4th quarter interceptions), the sky's the limit for this team.
dobber
June 18, 2024 at 08:23 am
"I think it was a combination of the O-line getting better and he and his receivers working better together."
Agreed. It all starts there.
I might say instead that earlier on he was throwing to the open receiver, and later he was reading the field and anticipating who would be open and putting the ball there for him. What worried me about 10 in preseason and limited past snaps was that he didn't seem to want to throw the ball with zing, but that certainly changed as his rookie year wore on. There were still some of those anxiety-raising downfield floaters later in the season, but remarkably they kept working out...if he's going to keep throwing them, I think we'll still have some anxious moments. But you're right, it all stems from comfort level in the offense, believing he'll have time to throw, and knowing his route-runners.
GregC
June 18, 2024 at 09:56 am
It seemed to me like in the second half of the season, the deep throws were not quite so deep. They were more like deep crossing routes rather than long bombs. Love was no good at throwing the long bombs anyway, and you can stretch a defense plenty by throwing 20-30 yards downfield. It doesn't have to be 40. This was my impression anyway. I'm not sure if it's accurate. There must be stats on this somewhere.
Oppy
June 19, 2024 at 05:40 am
FWIW, There were direct statements made by MLF in the 2023 preseason that they were actively coaching Love to 'put more air under the ball' on his deep passes.
To Love's credit, he was clearly trying to give the coaching staff what they were asking of him. The downside was he never looked comfortable doing it and the results weren't very good. When Love made the decision to just 'let 'er rip' and deliver the ball in his normal fashion, it certainly seemed to contribute to the overall success of the deep passing game.
Still see the occasional ugly rainbow pass (That wide open TD shot to Musgrave in the Cowboys playoff game that seemed to hang in the air forever and was short enough Musgrave had to basically stop and wait for it to come down to him) but for the most part, Love has just been slinging it and results have been good.
Johnblood27
June 19, 2024 at 05:54 am
I do believe that MLF taking off the training wheels had a lot to do with the progression of the offense last season. It wasn't ALL on the players...
...of course MLF couldn't take the trainers off until the players had shown that they could execute the expanded offense.
Chickens and eggs I guess.
[email protected]
June 18, 2024 at 03:54 pm
It's just a stat number.
Leatherhead
June 18, 2024 at 07:00 pm
""I don't know who invented the #1 receiver and the progression after that,""
They're the guys on the field the most, who make the most clutch catches, who score the most points. These are the guys you want to get the ball to, and you draw up plays for that purpose. The defense knows who these guys are, and they tilt their coverage towards that guy.
Last year, it was Jayden Reed He had the most yards from scrimmage, even more than Jones. He also led the team with 10 TDs. Doubs was 2nd in yards and TDs with 8. So those are our #1 and #2 WRs. If you put a guy like Wicks or Watson out t here to stretch the field, Reed and Doubs could do some business underneath.
Johnblood27
June 18, 2024 at 07:34 am
I am excited by all the talk about Jordan Love and the deep stable of wide receivers on the GBP roster, much like everyone else that are Packer fans.
The true key to all of the success that has been seen in the early stages of the QB and WR career arcs is the HFC Matt Lafleur. His offensive schemes and his demeanor with these young players has created a seamless progression to a top notch NFL offense.
I listed MLF as being on the hot seat last pre-season. I even doubted that his leadership and vision were going to be able to define the GBP going forward. I was unconvinced that his years with AR under center showed that he was a ready HC in the NFL. Last year was his proving ground for me. The beginning of the year had me quite concerned that he was not the answer to the GB HC question.
I was proven wrong.
MLF took the reins and guided the GBP to a successful season in terms of team achievement and in terms of young player development. He even showed leadership in the area I was most concerned with by taking more control of the defense when it seemed that the players were not going to play for Joe Barry. He then showed some maturity for his role by sticking with the DC until the season ended and then replacing him forthwith. He even took a chance on an "unproven" NFL DC in the hire of a NCAA HC as his new DC.
The promise of the youth on the GBP is a real thing. It has been and will continue to be realized because of the melding of the GM/player procurement of BG, the HC abilities of MLF and the talent and drive of the young players under their control.
I smell a dynasty...
[email protected]
June 18, 2024 at 03:57 pm
From your mouth to the football God's ears, my friend.
NFLfan
June 18, 2024 at 09:15 am
The Packers are temporarily residing in that fresh, sweet spot where the receivers are relatively ego-less and happy to play communally.
I hope this generous, altruistic attitude continues for another 2-3 years. The current NFL system, though, is set up for former fresh-faced, contented communal players to eventually want their 'bag'. We should savor this moment in time.
13TimeChamps
June 18, 2024 at 09:54 am
While it's fun watching this young pass catching group grow together, the flip side to it is 2-3 years from now they're all going to want to be "taken care of". Because of the salary cap and limited funds being available, hard decisions will have to be made and feelings will be hurt. Such is today's NFL.
But that's 2-3 years from now and I'm too old to be worrying about anything that far ahead. So, I'm going to enjoy this window of the "fresh, sweet spot" that you described this team is currently in. It should be a fun ride!
TheTaxiSquad
June 18, 2024 at 05:26 pm
Didn’t even mention Malik Heath, Samara Touré or Grant Dubose. Samari hasn’t shown much in his opportunities. I’m interested in what Dubose does in training camp and pre-season. Haven’t heard much about him, but it’ll be a battle to stand out from Watson, Doubs, Reed, Wicks and Melton. Wow!!
TheTaxiSquad
June 18, 2024 at 08:18 pm
Hahaha. Somebody downvotes that? Geesh. Didn’t think a Packers site would have the same hateful idiots as the rest of social media. If you’re gonna down vote at least have the guts to reply with your reasons. Coward.
GregC
June 18, 2024 at 08:39 pm
There are a handful of people here who downvote pretty much anything just for fun. They might be teenagers, or pre-teens even. I've seen downvotes for brief posts that offered factual corrections. Just ignore them and focus on the good stuff.
Johnblood27
June 18, 2024 at 09:54 pm
There are Douch bags here fo sho...
not that up or down votes affect what I have to say, the lack of a response when there are multiple down votes is mystifying...
I can only assume that the down votes come from those that do not like the posters choice of picture... lol
NFLfan
June 19, 2024 at 11:30 pm
Packer's #1 WR is: Watson, Doubs, Wicks, Reed, Melton and perhaps Heath.
Opposing teams: Prepare to be confused-lol.