Packers' Strength of Drafts Has Been at Wide Receiver
Packers Wide Receiver Jayden Reed led the team in receiving yards and was second in touchdown catches in 2024.
Since Ron Wolf became the Green Bay Packers General Manager in 1992, one position the Packers have been very successful at drafting is at wide receiver. Despite drafting only one first round wide receiver in the last 33 years (Javon Walker), the Packers have hit on numerous wide receivers in the middle of the rounds of the draft.
In 1996 and 1997, it was a pair of former 3rd round picks who were the starting wide receivers on back-to-back Super Bowl teams, Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman. In 1995, Brooks set a then franchise record for receiving yards with 1,497. In 1998, Freeman would lead the league in receiving yards with 1,424. This was when the Packers receiving torch passing would begin.
The opening touchdown throw from Favre to Freeman in Super Bowl XXXII is just absurd. pic.twitter.com/KDqtlK4bH1
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) July 3, 2018
From 1988 to 1994, the team’s best wide receiver was Sterling Sharpe. From 1995 to 1996 it was Brooks, then from 1996 to 2001 it was Freeman. Starting in 1999, Freeman would play four seasons with Donald Driver, a 7th round pick.
Driver, a former high jumper in college, would go on to become one of the franchise’s all-time best receivers. From 2004 to 2009, Driver had a team-record six straight 1,000 yard seasons, including a career high 1,295 yards in 2006. He had incredible longevity, playing 14 seasons, all for the Packers and he would pass the receiver torch to the group that helped win the team’s 4th Super Bowl in 2010.
With 80 days left until Packers football let's remember this insane @Donald_Driver80 touchdown. pic.twitter.com/VAGeoX1OGQ
— r/GreenBayPackers (@redditPackers) June 23, 2022
From 2006 to 2008, General Manager Ted Thompson spent Day 2 picks on wide receivers in three-straight drafts. Greg Jennings, James Jones and Jordy Nelson would all at some point become the team’s No. 1 wide receiver.
Jennings, drafted the same day the Packers traded Javon Walker, would have three straight 1,000 yard seasons from 2008 to 2010, and would finish off that 2010 season with two touchdown catches in Super Bowl XLV. He had his best season in 2010, finishing with 1,265 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Never forget when Greg Jennings caught an absolute LASER from 12 for the touchdown, sustaining a MASSIVE hit by Troy Polamalu in the process, putting the Packers up 3 scores en route to their Super Bowl victory @GregJennings pic.twitter.com/5NggPgoIxE
— IKE Packers Podcast (@IKE_Packers) February 7, 2022
Jones, a third round pick, had his best season in 2012 after injuries limited both Jennings and Nelson. His 14 touchdown catches were the most in the NFL, becoming the first Packers player to lead the league in receiving touchdowns since Sharpe did so in 1994.
The team then transitioned from Jennings to Nelson as the team’s top receiver. Nelson hit his stride in his 4th season in 2011, catching a team-leading 15 touchdowns and 1,263 yards. Injuries slowed him down in 2012 and caused him to miss the entire 2015 season, but from 2013 to 2016, Nelson had an incredible 4,090 yards and 35 touchdown catches in those three seasons.
We are Jordy Nelson (87) days away from Packers football! 🔥 #GoPackGo
— GBP Daily - Rob Westerman lll (@GBPdaily) June 11, 2024
The next transition was from Nelson to Adams. Starting in 2016, Adams would have a six-year stretch with double digit touchdown catches in five of six seasons, more than 110 catches in three seasons, culminating with a franchise record of 1,553 yards in 2021. This followed up his 2020 season, where he tied Sharpe’s team-record of 18 touchdown catches.
Davante Adams, if he catches a TD in the second half of this game, will pass Sterling Sharpe in receptions and touchdown receptions in the same game.
Incredible.
Never thought we’d see a receiver be as dominant, on a per-game basis, as Sharpe again.
We’re getting close. pic.twitter.com/6fgWzRHu3N
— PackersHistory.com (@PackersHistory1) October 24, 2021
In recent years, the Packers have been searching for the next guy to take this position as the team’s “go-to receiver.” In back-to-back years, current General Manager Brian Gutekunst used Day 2 and 3 picks on four receivers: 2022 - Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, 2023 - Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks. All four have had their moments, but none have yet to thrust themselves into being the most reliable and consistent receiver in the Packers passing game.
|
Doubs 2022 - 42, 425, 3 2023 - 59, 674, 8 2024 - 46, 601, 4 |
Watson 2022 - 41, 611, 7 2023 - 28, 422, 5 2024 - 29, 620, 2 |
Wicks 2023 - 39, 581, 4 2024 - 39, 415, 5 |
Reed 2023 - 64, 793, 8 2024 - 55, 857, 6 |
Some of the previous wide receivers did not become high-level starters until their 3rd or 4th seasons (Brooks, Driver, Nelson, Adams), so maybe there’s still time for one of the four to become that guy for the Packers. Based on the previous two seasons, the best chance is for Reed to elevate his game in 2025.
The Packers could also address by adding a wide receiver in Day 1 or 2 and putting more competition in the wide receiver room.
Notable Packers Wide Receivers Drafted Since 1992
| Year | Round | Player | School |
| 1992 | 3 | Robert Brooks | South Carolina |
| 1995 | 3 | Antonio Freeman | Virginia Tech |
| 1996 | 2 | Derrick Mayes | Notre Dame |
| 1998 | 5 | Corey Bradford | Jackson State |
| 1999 | 7 | Donald Driver | Alcorn State |
| 2001 | 2 | Robert Ferguson | Texas A&M |
| 2002 | 1 | Javon Walker | Florida State |
| 2005 | 2 | Terrence Murphy | Texas A&M |
| 2006 | 2 | Greg Jennings | Western Michigan |
| 2007 | 3 | James Jones | San Jose State |
| 2008 | 2 | Jordy Nelson | Kansas State |
| 2011 | 2 | Randall Cobb | Kentucky |
| 2014 | 2 | Davante Adams | Fresno State |
| 2015 | 3 | Ty Montgomery | Stanford |
| 2018 | 5 | Marquez Valdes-Scantling | Central Florida |
| 2019 | 6 | Equanimeous St. Brown | Notre Dame |
| 2021 | 3 | Amari Rodgers | Clemson |
| 2022 | 2 | Christian Watson | North Dakota State |
| 2022 | 4 | Romeo Doubs | Nevada |
| 2023 | 2 | Jayden Reed | Michigan State |
| 2023 | 5 | Dontayvion Wicks | Virginia |
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Mitch McLaughlin is a Packers fan and shareholder residing in Sacramento, California. He will be writing Packers stories each week on Cheesehead TV. He can be found on Twitter: @McLaughlinMitch
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Comments (22)
Guam
March 30, 2025 at 12:14 pm
The Packers have been much better at drafting WRs than CBs. From Terrell Buckley to Kevin King to Eric Stokes the Packers have had their misses at CB. I trust Gute will find a good WR or two in this year's draft.
GregC
March 30, 2025 at 01:07 pm
Fun highlights. Jordy Nelson looks fast even in those crappy throwback uniforms.
The Packers had a good WR pipeline going until 2022, when Davante Adams was traded. Until then, they always had at least one really good established WR to be the go-to guy while they replenished the position. In 2022, they had to rebuild the position from scratch, and it still isn't up to the usual standard. It's possible they could do it by improving from within, but that will be hard with Christian Watson out of the lineup for most of 2025. The draft is less than a month away....
NFLfan
March 30, 2025 at 05:45 pm
Those clips are painful to watch-the offensive level of excellence has fallen dramatically.
There are no offensive Pro-Bowl caliber players except Jacobs and maybe Kraft.
murf7777
March 31, 2025 at 08:35 am
They had a good offense this year and that is with Love not playing for part of the year and obviously not even close to 100% for other parts.
IMO, they have a very good young nucleus of WR’s to build from right now. Add a couple in the draft this year and it will be close to what it was. They will fix the drop issues, many young WR’s of past Packer greats and in the NFL now had drop issues early in their career. I think many are making far too much of that.
PhantomII
March 30, 2025 at 05:52 pm
None of our WR group has shown enough to be signed to 2nd contract. Taking 4 years to be at a starting WR level is keeping GB from multiple shots at Super Bowls with a legit #1 WR and #2 WR with potential to also be a #1 WR is the most basic point of where any good NFL team should be to compete for a Championship. We have the right RB1 and TE1...Now we need 2 BETTER Wr's than what we have that are much further along in their skills and route running ability , but mainly...catch everything they can get there hands on and those are available as 1-2 year players if you choose the right ones.
NFLfan
March 30, 2025 at 06:29 pm
I've always thought Gutekunst was messing with Rodgers when he didn't provide any competent receivers after Davante left-4 rookies:Captain Casual-Toure), Watson, Doubs, Reed, Wicks, Sammy W. and Lazard. That room is still deficient. Lazard, Watkins, Toure have been fired. Anyone but GB apologists/spin doctors can see it. Unfortunately the apologists think 'there will be magical growth from within'--
GregC
March 30, 2025 at 08:48 pm
So you think Gutekunst intentionally stocked the team with bad receivers? That doesn't make sense on any level.
NFLfan
March 30, 2025 at 09:13 pm
With all due respect, there was no way any QB could have succeeded with the WR room.
It is well-known that Rodgers and Gutekunst were feuding.
GregC
March 31, 2025 at 06:36 am
I agree that it wasn't a good group of receivers. I disagree that it had anything to do with Rodgers and Gutekunst feuding. It would be absurd for a GM to shoot himself in the foot like that.
LambeauPlain
March 31, 2025 at 10:36 am
Gutey and Rodgers were so "Hatfield and McCoy" at each other Mr. Hatfield sent Mr. McCoy another favorite member for his clan...Mr. Randall Cobb McCoy.
Mr. McCoy rarely threw to most of the WR room.
Oppy
March 30, 2025 at 09:17 pm
I'm glad you brought up Allen Lazard, a WR clearly deficient in talent, yet he was Rodgers' guy, so much so that Rodgers insisted the Jets sign him.. and that guy Rodgers insisted needed to be signed ended up being a healthy scratch by the end of the season w/o Rodgers at the helm.
Maybe the problem wasn't the talent Rodgers was given to work with, maybe the problem was the talent Rodgers would work with.
NFLfan
March 30, 2025 at 09:18 pm
Since when has Gutekunst signed a competent, 'ready-now' WR?
A difference-maker, not Mecole Hardman
Bitternotsour
March 30, 2025 at 10:03 pm
in 2017 he signed Davante Adams to a 4 year $58 million dollar deal. i assume that meets your metric.
LLCHESTY
March 30, 2025 at 11:55 pm
Became the GM in 2018. Technically he's correct, although he did draft one, maybe two.
NFLfan
March 31, 2025 at 07:43 am
'Ready to play now', I said. Davante took several years.
NFLfan
March 31, 2025 at 08:10 am
BTW, Ted Thompson signed Adams, not Gutekunst.
LambeauPlain
March 31, 2025 at 10:41 am
In name only, not in actual negotiations or K construction.
It is well known Gutey and Ball did that deal after acting GM Mark Murphy said to do it. Ted was sadly barely functioning in 2017.
BuckyBadger
March 31, 2025 at 09:24 am
You don't need to draft a WR in the 1st, the Packers and many others have proven that. The history of 1st round WR vs 2nd is pretty telling as well when you look at all the metrics.
The Packers haven't done well in drafting them in recent years. If they did we wouldn't have this conversation every off season for about 5 years now.
PhantomII
March 31, 2025 at 10:09 am
Historically you're right...but I believe in recent years where they actually had good QB play, the fail rate is much lower. What you are really saying is a WR taken in the 2nd round...that was a 1st round WR.
LambeauPlain
March 31, 2025 at 10:52 am
This seems to be empirically true, Bucky!
I read an article on first round draft "hits" of the NFL since 2000 and WR is the lowest of all positions...around a 17% hit rate. Does Gutey know this stat? Seems so.
OL and DL are among the highest hit rates on players. Overall draft round hits are not very high. Most teams miss far more than they hit.
It has been awhile since I read the piece, but I believe the definition of a "hit" is a player that plays his entire contract with the 5th year added...and/or a player who rings the bell with a re-signing or for another team on multi year top tier FA contract after the rookie deal ends.
PhantomII
March 31, 2025 at 01:59 pm
Offenses and more importantly College football has changed a lot in 25 years....I would dial it to 2020 or so to be more realistic. Some of these WR's get picked high and have poorer QB1 play also. We just got to look at the big picture....Gute is worried of blowing a 1 pick on WR but not so at CB / OLB-Edge etc.....Use better scouts...hell I can see on film a top 3-5 pick WR.
NFLfan
March 31, 2025 at 12:16 pm
Back in the day as another poster mentioned, there was always a serious WR in the pipeline ready to play after 2-3 years of prep. Whether we like it or not, Rodgers had much to do with the WR's success. They had to meet his exacting standards and he was stricter than most coaches. Who is in the pipeline presently?
Current receivers are doing their best but none of them are on the level of receivers of the recent past.
There is no one on passing Offense who is excellent. Love should be that person but he is also limited by inaccuracies and questionable field decisions. Kraft seems to be willing to be that person.
But currently, no one is demanding excellence, coaches included, the way Rodgers did-like him or not.
He could demand it because he was an accurate passer, saw the field well, had a high football IQ, protected the ball and put up a ton of points as long as the receivers were as competent.
I don't see real improvements in passing offense players, coaches so I guess MLF is going to focus on the run again.