Cory's Corner: The Packers Don't Need CeeDee Lamb
Give me four team-first wideouts over one "No. 1" wideout any day of the week.
Can we please stop with the crazy trade rumors that involve the Packers getting a No. 1 receiver?
The world will be a much better place when I’m not sifting through ridiculous trade offers for a position the Packers clearly have a grasp on. That’s like Kwik Trip trading for more Glazers. They have that portion of the market cornered.
But Bleacher Report has decided to outdo itself. This is beyond ridiculous. It’s borderline bananas.
First of all, CeeDee Lamb is a very good NFL receiver. I think he’s the third-best wideout in the league behind Tyreek Hill and Justin Jefferson. But even with his league-leading 197 targets last year, I still don’t want him.
That sounds nuts, but give me three or four hungry young guys that have already proven that they can get it done with a young quarterback. Maybe, maybe mind you, if the Packers struggled to get the passing game going at all, going after someone like Lamb could be a reality now.
But that didn’t happen. The Packers had an average age of 25.13 years last year, with average experience at three years. Many didn’t expect much out of the Packers last year. They were relying on so many unproven guys that it was only natural to just sit back and wait for them to make a mistake.
That happened in a brutal October and if you count the Sept. 28 game, the losing streak swelled to four games. They were out of sync, not playing as a team and looking confused. But what I liked most about that losing stretch was that there weren’t fingers being pointed all over the place.
Accountability was swallowed. They all knew that they had a hand in fixing the problem and they all made great strides to making things better.
Just think, if a player like Lamb were to come in and the Packers go through another dry patch. How would that be received? That wouldn’t be as easy to swallow because the expectations would be through the roof for a guy that the team gave up solid assets for, not to mention salary cap space and still cannot get things right. But most importantly, the finger pointing would eventually come and the team concept would suddenly collapse like a house of cards.
The Packers are in a great spot. Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed or Dontayvion Wicks could be the team’s No. 1 wideout. Think about that for a second. Every Cowboys opponent knows that if they shut down Lamb, they will have a much higher chance to win. However, Packers opponents have to play defensive roulette. Do they stop Watson, despite having asymmetrical legs, Doubs, Reed or Wicks?
Sounds like a real problem to me. The Packers hit the wide receiver jackpot and could ultimately make the biggest score of the season. Green Bay will likely be locking up Jordan Love to a deal before the season and he has to be smiling profusely about the prospect of being confident enough to literally throw it anywhere and the Packers will likely win.
If you can diversify, do that first. It’s so much safer for teams to have four No. 2s than only legit No. 1.
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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
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Comments (30)
GB@Germany
June 08, 2024 at 06:22 am
Well, we need great receivers, like Lamb is one, no question. We just don‘t need to pay one. 35 mil/ y, as we have plenty of potential No1 receivers on rookie contracts. Two years from now, we might have a similar discussion as 49ers and Dallas right now:
Which of our plenty 1000 yard receivers we should pay?
JayTJay
June 08, 2024 at 12:58 pm
The Packers don't need a 1k yd receiver.
bossofallbosses
June 09, 2024 at 08:34 am
Exactly, I think these receivers are probably 1-5 (at full health) all receivers that can be a 1 or 2 for 99% of teams in the NFL. Just because one of them doesn't get 1k+ yards that means absolutely nothing because the Packers are spreading the rock around. They've shown each receiver 1-5 can have a monster game of 100+ yards and 2+ TD's so the opponents have to pick their poison. If your receivers end up having 500-999 yards (1-5) that doesn't mean none of them are a one it just means they're all so great that GB doesn't just force it to one dude like the Queens or Dal does since they have one elite receiver and a bunch of average to below average receivers per PFF.
barutanseijin
June 08, 2024 at 06:39 am
Instead of pouting about someone else’s clickbait/off season filler, how about some original idle speculation?
What if Holmgren had stuck with the Packers? Should the Vikings trade for Mitch Trubisky? Revisiting the Double Doink…
stockholder
June 08, 2024 at 06:57 am
Why would Gute get Lamb.
When he couldn't get Rodgers anyone to go with Adams?
You want more cap hell?
Or could it be Watson is a bust and Gute
buys his way out of another drafting mistake.
I know you don't want negativity about Gute.
But just saying. -
dblbogey
June 08, 2024 at 10:11 am
Speaking for myself, I just laugh at your clown posts.
stockholder
June 08, 2024 at 10:44 am
Being a clown means finding a certain freedom,
" breaking the status quo,"
escaping it and dancing with your soul.
At the same time,
having this freedom means
that you have to learn and start understanding things.
It means you have to discover through
internal and external observation.
Still sound like a clown? Or do you need Help?
My name is stockholder.
PackerBackerAZ
June 08, 2024 at 12:29 pm
Your not so veiled negative post against Gutekunst is, perhaps, a little early. He's assembled a team that could potentially win a Super Bowl or prove to be incapable of that. The receivers have all played at a high level when called upon to play extended snaps. Bo Melton and Malik Heath are the forgotten men here. Props to Gutekunst for having six receivers that should scare the hell out of every defensive coordinator.
Will the offensive line be good enough to win a championship? TBD If the offensive line fails to play better than 2023, blame Gutekunst, LaFleur Butkus and Gordon.
Will the quarterbacking be good enough to win a championship? TBD Gutekunst gave the team time to evaluate Love with the contract extension in lieu of exercising the fifth year option on his rookie contract. By paying the man with only 1/2 season of elite play, when there is time for further evaluation, will be on him. We all hope that the last half of 2023 wasn't an aberration but why not evaluate his play for at least half of 2024?
Will the running backs be good enough to win a championship? TBD If the running backs fail to perform better than last season, we all know who to blame for letting Jones go, bringing in Jacobs and retaining Dillon.
Will the defense be good enough to win a championship? TBD All the high draft capital (first three rounds) put into the defense has yielded less than stellar results under two previous coordinators. Hafley is not on Gutekunst but, rather, on LaFleur. If all these high ras defensive draft picks don't show that they have an aggressive nature and can dominate any team on any day, then you can blame Gutekunst for picking soft players.
Whole point: Gutekunst is, or should be, on the hot seat for how this team performs this season.. Your obvious disdain for Gutekunst isn't justified....at this time.
Your second paragraph is nonsense. Watson has proven, when healthy, to be an excellent receiver. If his hamstring problems are over, then in no way is he a bust.
Untylu1968
June 08, 2024 at 01:01 pm
I don't know why I even bother, but your man crush Rodgers had whom he wanted at receiver. Do you think that the Packers might have possibly drafted another receiver, #1 if #8 didn't have to have Cobb, Lazard, and let's not forget about the great "touchdown Jesus" just to name a few. Plus, his issues with being able to "trust" a young receiver. Love will blow Rodgers out of the water as far as the distribution of the ball goes. Rodgers at one time had one of the best receiving corps in Packer history, and with that, the "goat" won us one superbowl.
MainePackFan
June 08, 2024 at 07:54 pm
Many in here have Rodgers issues. The vast majority of those issues are certainly not man crushes. I would say It's quite the opposite. Based on the gist of your comment, I'm sure you can attest to that.
BA4Pack
June 08, 2024 at 07:12 am
The Pack have ALot of their own they to need to sign in the next 3-4 years after signing JLove.
I’m on the fence with giving Kenny Clark an extension because of that.
We can’t afford 20+ mil. to Lamb.
Big time NO to CeeDee for me.
DragonSilk
June 08, 2024 at 07:15 am
Of course we don't need Cee Dee Lamb! We also don't need Devante, or any other veteran receiver coming in, demanding targets and creating locker room drama. This great young group we have now is going to get better and better as the season goes on. Gute has done a great job building this team and is way too smart to mess it up now.
ricky
June 08, 2024 at 07:17 am
It's the off season. Time for idle speculation, silliness and nonsense. Definitely clickbait. The problem is, it worked! Why the Packers would want to help the Cowboys solve their salary cap nightmare, while putting themselves into a similar situation, is mind boggling. But here we are, posting about it, because its the off season...
dblbogey
June 08, 2024 at 10:13 am
Speaking of silliness, I've already seen 3 mock drafts for April, 2025.
mrtundra
June 08, 2024 at 07:26 am
No thanks to getting Ceedee Lamb. I'll stick with our young guys.
PackBacker
June 08, 2024 at 08:17 am
The Pack already has 2 or 3 potential #1 wide receivers on the roster. Why break the bank, sacrifice one or more of the potential #1's we already have and give up important draft capital for someone the team doesn't even need? Especially when it involves dealing with one of my all-time least favorite and always over-hyped teams.
Pass.
LeotisHarris
June 08, 2024 at 08:47 am
Ope, Cory found where the Mrs hid the edibles again.
Bitternotsour
June 08, 2024 at 09:25 am
Leotis, what if the Packers signed a free agent who had like, you know, 3 arms.
NFLfan
June 08, 2024 at 08:53 am
WR's are overpaid-I think it was Davante who started it-then Tyreek broke the bank with his exorbitant salary demands. Both of them landed on lesser teams-is that a win?
Now, they're all out there demanding 30-40 M. Brandon Aiyuk (49ers) wants 30-35 M because Amon Ra St. Brown got his.
St. Brown is targeted 3X more often than Aiyuk-49ers are a run first team-SMH.
I'm tired of watching 1-2 players hobbling their teams with excessive salary demands.
Art
June 08, 2024 at 09:14 am
Every day sports media people have either a column to fill or air time to fill so they concoct some wild hypothetical trade. And because Green Bay doesn't have a designated No 1 receiver so they feel that they should be a good target for every free agent veteran receiver in the league. They might consider themselves "NFL experts" but in reality all they have is a
need for a story and a deadline to meet.
Disregarding cap space (current and future), personal character which GB highly values and avoids locker roon cancers, willingnees to block, willingness to be a team player, to run their patterns all out even when the play is not designated for them,and being a positive influence they fill their job obligations with fantasy journalism.
Much easier to write fiction than to do the legwork of oncovering real stories.
Leatherhead
June 08, 2024 at 09:15 am
No matter what the problem, the answer is always another WR.
LambeauPlain
June 08, 2024 at 10:18 am
Yep. Never a dearth of "experts" proposing trade deals.
How many NFL teams would trade WR rooms with the Packers? Is there a WR room the Packers would exchange for theirs?
Doubs, Reed, Watson, Wicks, Melton, Heath, Dubois, Toure has potential to approximate the production of Driver, Jennings. Nelson, Cobb, Jones...maybe surpass it.
Spock
June 08, 2024 at 09:33 am
"The Packers Don't Need CeeDee Lamb". No, sh*t Sherlock. Also, "The grass is green." "The sky is blue". "Black isn't white."
LambeauPlain
June 08, 2024 at 10:05 am
BR: "The Green Bay Packers have a lot of good, though not great or well-established receivers." Sure. Great. Whatever.
How can the Packers win games without a great, well-established receiver? How could they possibly beat a team like Dallas and their great, well established receiver like Lamb (who caught one pass for 9 yards)?
Packers receiver room is loaded with 2nd and 3rd year WRs with tremendous upsides. The narrative "you need a #1 WR to compete!" is not a fact. IN FACT, the more prolific receivers you have, the more competitive you are vs the Defense on the field.
Love said it best last week. He said the Packers have several #1 receivers and it depends on the "match ups" for the next opponent.
Hearing a lot about "match ups".
Matt's Illusion of Complexity Offense is match up driven and is being run prolifically through Jordan Love now. Rooms full of talented WRs, TEs, RBs, OL will make the IOC flexible and unpredictable.
Hafley has emphasized interchangeability with Safeties, LBs, and DL depending on the upcoming opponent. Simplify the D plan...drill it... and play fast. This approach facilitates match ups too.
Always look forward to every Packer season. I am more amped for this one!
PhantomII
June 08, 2024 at 11:02 am
I'm thrilled to have the WR's we have. I would have loved for Gute to reach up and draft Brock Bowers from Georgia at TE though. I think he's as good as any and would have been looking good above Musgrave and Kraft. We didn't need him, but it wood have finished making our offensive juggernaut theme along with inside running backs we picked up. Regardless boys....we are looking at one heck of a 2024 year and I'm really looking forward to dismantling the Eagles day 1..... GPG
MitchAnthony
June 08, 2024 at 11:30 am
Clickbait writers writing clickbait articles about clickbait things. Yeah, I wasted plenty of my time reading past the headlines of plenty of those articles during the run-up to the draft. The Packers are going to take,.... Yeah right. The Packers were going to take someone, way too small, or way too short, or way way too big for certain positions. Uh huh.
Now it is a slow time again so let's make up some nonsense about clickbait worthy trade rumors. Well, the Packers trading for CeeDee Lamb has all the classic earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign. 51 current and former spooks told me so.
CheeseEdWest2
June 08, 2024 at 12:07 pm
The #1 WR thing was a trap for the Pack, who instead of picking a promising 2nd day guy every year to keep a rotation stocked fell into the go to guy thing. AR bought into that, we got hero ball, ignoring wide open guys, and games we could have won...Gute picked a couple more WR's this year even though we don't need one. But one of them could develop into a rotation player in a year and the cupboard won't go bare...
marpag1
June 08, 2024 at 02:18 pm
Lol. Nobody beats the sh!t out of a straw man quite so well as Cory.
bossofallbosses
June 09, 2024 at 09:06 am
These receivers (1-5) are all 1's or 2's on any other team in the NFL. The fact that GB has 5 of them and spreads the rock around means you don't get one receiver 1ith insane stats which people equate to a 1. However if you look at their efficiently numbers that's a sign of a true #1. Heck Bo Melton was an 4 last year and Wicks was a 79 PFF. There are 8 #1 receivers that have lower pff scores than those 2.
I'll take the Packers 1-5 over any receiver group in the NFL and that's not even including the fact that they're the cheapest receiver group in the NFL at 8 mil for these 5 dudes. Virtually all other teams only have 1-2 guys that can have monster games at any time in the season but the Packers have 5. The Bears you can argue but Moore to me never impressed me at all vs the Packers as he was a non factor, their rookie is unproven and they have an injury prone old washed dude. Meh.
The one team you could argue for is the Texans but their 5th guy is garbage.
I think if Watson is actually healthy this season these are the potential grades for the Packers receivers in year 2 with Love:
1.) Watson : 90 last year he was only a 69 but when fully healthy the dude is a consistent upper 80's to low 90's.
2.) Wicks: 86 (nearly had an 80 in his rookie season and all reports are saying he's the breakout candidate of the year per PFF)
3.) Bo: 86 (the highest rated receiver on the team last year and is dominating in OTA's like nobody else on the team so far. He was an 88 last year in the reg season but his number dropped in the playoffs a bit.
4.) Reed 84 (basically our Debo Samuel gadget player. He was a 75 last year as a rookie and many believe he's the guy that takes the monster step in year 2.
5.) Doubs: 77 ( had just a 70 last year but proved he can dominate as he did in the playoffs vs better defenses. He has the best connection with Love of all the receivers but has the lowest ceiling on the team).
With these scores that leaves you with only 14 receivers that are better than our top 4 receivers and the 5th best receiver in Doubs would be considered an above average #2 in the NFL.
If they produce like I believe they can this season, I believe considering the amount of money they're being paid this year (8 million bucks) I believe this could be the most valuable receiver group in NFL history. Hoq many other teams in history had a group that was making the least amount of money in the NFL at that time yet performed as the best group in the NFL that year?
CanPackFan
June 09, 2024 at 02:18 pm
Serious football fans don't read the Blacher Repott anymore. They suggest outrageous trades that will never happen gor scads of reasons. The only people who read it are homer fans of losing teams that need all the favorable hype they can get. Just saying...