5 Key Takeaways from the Packers Final Preseason Game Against Kansas City

1. Acceptable performance by Jordan Love to finish preseason

For the third game in a row, Jordan Love had a pretty solid night where the box score won’t tell the whole story. Love threw an interception towards the end of the first half trying to make something happen that will make the night look worse, but trying to make a play in that situation isn’t all bad. The Chiefs after the interception had the ball at their own 15 yard line and seven seconds left in the first half, really nothing to lose in that situation. We would have liked to see him at least get the ball into field goal range, sure, but he gave his wide receiver a chance to make a play. Additionally, Love played most of the first half against defensive starters, and if it wasn’t for some bad penalties, would have led them two touchdown drives. Lastly, the offense was playing backed up or behind the sticks most of the game due to terrible special teams and low production on first down runs.

On the night, Love went 16/26, 148 yards, and 1 INT. He also took a sack that he should not have as he had Tyler Davis open for a short throw but tried to scramble instead. Love did have completions of 23, 16, 15, and 13 twice, so he was pushing the ball down the field with some nice throws and hitting some tight throws; Love had some really nice completions on play action plays. However, where last week it was a few big drops by the wide receivers, this week it was Love just barely overthrowing Juwann Winfree on a few occasions. If Love and Winfree are able to connect on one or more of those deep shots, the night looks a lot better. Jordan Love did connect with Samari Toure and Amari Rodgers both several times.

Overall, Love had a successful preseason. The numbers won’t look all that great, but there is a lot more to his performance than what the box score says. Love was much more in rhythm and looked far more comfortable in the offense, also some improved footwork; it looked like the game slowed down some for him. It’s easy to forget that Love had only played two preseason games and one regular season game coming into this year. With the three preseason games this year, he essentially doubled his live NFL game experience. Although Love needs to continue to improve, I believe he has shown he is at least a capable back up at this point and is still working towards his ceiling. Hopefully we don’t see Love start another game until the 2023 preseason, but if he does have to start again like last year, he’s in a much better spot. Lastly, the “incapable of Love” crowd will tell you that Danny Etling should be the back-up, you can safely ignore those people.  

2. Amari Rodgers makes case for RB3 role

The third running back competition continued to evolve, and a new possibility emerged Thursday night. Tyler Goodson got the start and showed his homerun ability with a 24-yard touchdown run, but on his 6 other carries, he only had 4 total yards; he also added 5 receptions for 26 yards. Patrick Taylor had a pretty solid night with 7 carries for 34 yards; he had 2 carries inside of the 5-yard line that he couldn’t punch in and his TD run on 3^rd down called back due to penalty. Taylor also added 2 catches for 10 yards. Overall, I think Goodson probably outplayed Taylor this preseason, but both have shown to be capable running backs with different skill sets.

However, Amari Rodgers suddenly working as a running back has made this competition, and what the Packers do, very interesting. Rodgers showed that he can run the ball out of the back field with a really nice run of 11 yards; he also had another carry of 4 lined up as a traditional running back. Aside from working as a running back, Rodgers has shown strides as a wide receiver and seems to be the lead return man heading into the year. Might Rodgers be the next Tyler Ervin?  

With the Packers trying to figure out things at the wide receiver position, the fact that Rodgers showed tonight that he can play in the backfield may give the Packers the option of only carrying two running backs on the 53-man roster, carrying an extra wide receiver, and calling up a running back from the practice squad on a weekly basis. It’s possible either Goodson or Taylor would be claimed if they don’t make the initial roster, but I believe there is a really good chance neither of them gets claimed and the Packers can get one or both of them on the practice squad.

3. Bounce back night for the young wide receivers

Amari Rodgers and Samori Toure had really good nights, and Romeo Doubs and Juwann Winfree were solid. They all had a really clean night with no notable drops, which will garner some confidence heading into the season after the first two preseason games. Toure had the biggest night, catching 6 passes for 83 yards and a long of 23. Alongside his work as a running back (three carries for 17 yards), Rodgers added 4 receptions for 39 yards. Doubs only had one reception of note for 13 yards, but it was in really tight coverage where he showed good concentration and worked back towards the ball. As for Winfree, he only had one reception for 7 yards, however, he got open on several occasions and unfortunately Jordan Love and Winfree just couldn’t connect. Additionally, Winfree had a tremendous block on a quick out pass to the running back that went for a nice gain.

With the proven trio of Allen Lazard, Sammy Watkins, and Randall Cobb ahead of all of these young players, and Christian Watson waiting to show what he’s made of, the Packers have some tough choices to make heading into the final roster cuts. With Rodgers showing tonight that he can play in the backfield, Aaron Rodgers commending Winfree’s performance early in training camp, and Toure having a solid camp and final game, I think there’s an argument to be made that the roster carries eight wide receivers and two running backs on the initial 53-man roster.

4. Special Teams has gotten worse each game, just in time for them to start counting

Special Teams were absolutely horrific, and the “wefense” as Special Teams coach Rich Bisaccia likes to call them, still needs a lot of work. The returners had four kick returns for a total of 56 yards, averaging just 14 yards. Tyler Goodson had a rookie mistake play where he should have just taken a knee after muffing the catch, but instead he returned it to the 5-yard line. For the one punt return, Ishmael Hyman caught the ball inside the 10-yard line, was immediately stuffed, and a holding penalty backed the Packers up to the 4-yard line. If the Packers don’t figure out how to protect and return more efficiently, or just take a knee, teams will start kicking higher kickoffs just short of the goal line and the offense will be continually backed up like they were Thursday night.

The return defense was just as bad if not worse. The Packers allowed eight kick and punt returns for a total of 180 yards. Kansas City had two kickoff returns for an average of 31 yards and a long of 45 yards. Punt returns averaged a strong 19.6 yards with a long of 35; there were also punt returns of 20, 17, and 16.

The one bright spot of the game was punter Pat O’Donnell who had a couple booming punts that went for over 50 net yards. It’s possible that O’Donnell was outkicking his punt coverage, but the gunners need to beat their man and make a play to capitalize on these punts.

There are no more preseason games for the Packers to show they can field a competent Special Teams unit. The only hope is that more starters will contribute and help shore up this glaring weakness. If not, opponents will exploit this weakness, and it could very well cost the team another game this season.

5. Relatively quiet night for the rest of the team during low-scoring affair

There were some nice plays here and there by other players, but overall, it was a pretty low-scoring, penalty-filled sloppy game by both teams.

The inside linebacker position showed depth again, and Quay Walker had his best game so far with 5 tackles. Walker allowed a few catches, but he was there immediately after the catch to make a play on the receiver; he also had a really nice play where he was waiting for the running back in the hole and made the stop. Isaiah McDuffie started alongside Walker and had 4 tackles during his short playing time for the night. Krys Barnes had a few nice tackles and batted down a pass on third down.

               The defensive line had an okay night with Jack Heflin making a couple big splash plays, one being a 4^th and 1 run stuff. The defensive didn’t end up with any sacks, but they only gave up an average of 3.8 yards a carry, and besides one big blown coverage, the secondary had a solid night. Micah Abernathy added another 6 tackles tonight, nearly made a ridiculous interception on the goal line, and has made a strong case for the practice squad at minimum during his two preseason games.

               The starting offensive line had some trouble creating holes and giving up pressure to start the game, but they settled down after the first few drives. The one sack that the starters gave up was more on Jordan Love as he had Tyler Davis open on the check down but he tried to pull it down and run instead. Josh Myers absolutely stole a Chiefs linebacker's soul on the long Tyler Goodson touchdown run, and the Packers as a team averaged 4.5 yards per carry on the night. Hopefully Elgton Jenkins and David Bahktiari are back week 1 against the Vikings, but if not, the current offensive line has shown this preseason that they can at least be serviceable until they return.

All stats in this post were source from ESPN.

Be sure to tune into the Wisco Fanatics show Friday nights for coverage of every game during the 2022 Green Bay Packers season.

7 Key Takeaways from the Packer Preseason Game Against the New Orleans Saints

7 Key Takeaways from the Green Bay Packer preseason game against the New Orleans Saints

1. Jordan Love’s hot start slowed down by drops

Jordan Love had a pretty solid game overall. He showed good mobility and some really nice throws. However, once again, drops capped Love's production. On his very first throw of the game, Romeo Doubs got turned around and couldn’t make the catch on a really good throw. However, the next few drives, Love showed some really nice poise and accuracy, completing passes of 15, 17, 11, and 21 yards before throwing eventually throwing a really nice high-point ball to Doubs for the touchdown. He also had a throw to Patrick Taylor in the endzone that wasn’t complete, but was in the perfect spot after a long scramble.  

After the touchdown, things really cooled off for Jordan Love and the Packers offense, large in part due to drops and a fumble by Tyler Davis. Aside from the Davis fumble, Romeo Doubs had his second drop of the game on a short crossing route, Samori Toure dropped a deep pass that was close to the sidelines but looked like it would have been inbounds and Amari Rodgers couldn’t maintain possession through contact with the ground on a really good throw up the seam for what would have been a big gain on 3^rd down. It had just finished raining, so the weather could be a factor, but it’s a play you would like to see Rodgers make. Furthermore, it seemed like once the offensive line starters started to shuffle out, Love was under a lot more pressure. Love did have one bad stretch of three bad throws in a row, two of which were into the ground, but aside from that, he played fairly consistent. After the game Head Coach Matt LaFleur did give credit to Love for playing well under pressure.

Overall, Jordan Love had a stat line of 12/24/113 yards/1 TD, however, once again, it could have been much stronger with some help from the young receivers. He also did a much better job of protecting the ball and leading his wide receivers. The “incapable of Love” haters will look at the box score once again, see 50 percent completion on pass attempts, and tell you that Love is trash. You can comfortably ignore those people knowing that his completion percentage should have been over 60 percent and his yardage should have likely been closer to 200 yards. Love has shown consistent improvement and that he is comfortable in this offense.

2. RB3 competition continues to heat up

Patrick Taylor got the start, but Tyler Goodson shined. Taylor showed tonight that he can get the short yardage when needed with two 1^st down runs on short yardage situations, but his long run of the night was only 5 yards, finishing the night with 8 carries for only 27 yards.

Tyler Goodson showed again tonight that he is a very shifty and quick. Goodson had runs of 9, 9, and 15, all on the same drive. He finished the night with 10 carries for 42 yards. He also showed his ability in the passing game with a nice catch and run of 10 yards. The one knock on Goodson is that he likely won’t break many tackles, but if you can get him in space, he is hard to catch. If I had to guess now, Tyler Goodson makes this team and there will be a few plays drawn up for him to show his speed.

Aside from Tyler Goodson and Patrick Taylor, Dexter Williams showed that he needs to be in the conversation too. With the Packers backed up against their own 2-yard line, Williams carried the ball for four, four, and six to get the Packers some room to operate; he also had a carry of nine yards. Williams finished the night with 5 carries for 24 yards playing mostly behind the 3^rd-string offensive line.  

3. First round rookies see more play time

               Devonte Wyatt seen his first game action of the preseason, and Quay Walker played more snaps than last week. Wyatt had a few nice snaps where he showed good pursuit of the quarterback, forcing them to scramble. Walker also showed a couple nice plays, one in particular where he shadowed Ian Book perfectly and shut down his scramble quickly. We’re still waiting for their first “splash” play of the preseason, but each of the player finished the night with two tackles.

            4. Young wide receivers continue to ride the roller coaster

Romeo Doubs once again made his presence felt, but in a good way and a bad way. On the first pass attempt of the game, Jordan Love made a beautiful throw to Doubs, but it seemed like Doubs looked over the wrong shoulder, got turned around a little bit, and couldn’t make the catch. On the second drive of the game that resulted in a field goal, Doubs made a really nice catch in tight coverage for 17 yards. On the third drive, Doubs had another drop on a short crossing route and it almost seemed like Doubs wasn’t ready for the ball. However, he later made up for it on the same drive with a really nice high-point catch resulting in the first touchdown of the game. Doubs also had another 17 yard catch in the game, but it was called back because of a penalty on Tyler Davis.

Amari Rodgers had an up and down night, with essentially all of his production coming in the running game; he had two carries for 15 yards and showed his speed on end arounds. He did have 2 catches, but they only amounted for 5 yards; he had a drop on what would have been a big completion and extended another drive.

Lastly, Juwann Winfree had a really solid night with 3 catches for 41 yards. There was one throw where either he ran the wrong route or Jordan Love made the wrong read, but overall, he is making a good case to make this team through the first two games and it may put the Packers in a tough spot on who to keep.

5. Like the defensive line last week, the inside line backer position showed good depth

Both Isaiah McDuffie and Krys Barnes showed that they can play as well. McDuffie had a strong game last week, and followed it up with another strong performance against the Saints. He was all over the field and near the ball. There was one play where McDuffie seemed to miss his coverage, but aside from that, he had another strong performance with 6 tackles. Barnes also made a really nice break on the ball for a pass break-up and added two tackles. With the emergence of McDuffie and the experience of Barnes, the Packers may have four players that they feel really good about at the position.

6. Special Teams déjà vu

               Once again Special Teams continued to struggle. Aside from the three big returns that they gave up (two kick returns and one punt return), there was a play where they had 10 players on the field (flash back to the playoff game), and another where they had 12 players on the field that resulted in a penalty; luckily it was 4^th and 15 and the penalty didn’t result in a 1^st down. 

One punt Amari Rodgers caught at the 3-yard line was a bad decision, and with another penalty, pinned the Packers at the 2-yard line. It’s possible Rodgers was told to return the punt no matter what, but the Packers had a couple decent punt returns, but the single kick return went for only 18 yards. Lastly, the one bright spot would be newly signed kicker Ramiz Ahmed made all of his kicks, including a 45 yarder that went straight down the middle with room to spare.

7. One potentially costly injury opens the door for young players to step up, and they did

Vernon Scott, how was vying for and likely leading the competition for the third safety, went down with a shoulder injury, and it didn’t look good. Scott left the field in clear pain with his arm hanging down at his side.

You never want to see an injury, but two of the safeties behind Scott stepped up once the injury happened. Shawn Davis had a really strong night highlighted by a fumble recovery and a long return that set up a field goal. He also added 5 tackles, one of which went for a loss. Newly signed Micah Abernathy also responded in a big way. Abernathy, who was playing in the USFL about a month ago, made a gorgeous interception along the sidelines. He also read a screen perfectly and blew up the play for a loss of 5-yards. He finished the night with an interception and four tackles.

All stats in this post were sourced from ESPN. 

6 Key Takeaways from the Packers Preseason Game Against San Francisco

1. Ignore the stat sheet when judging Jordan Love's performance

If you solely look at the box score, it will not look good, however, it definitely doesn’t tell the whole story. Jordan Love’s stats will show that he threw three interceptions, but two of those interceptions were not his fault. The first was a strike right off of Tyler Davis’s hands; the second was a bobble by Romeo Doubs that the defender ripped away. The third interception, which was Love’s fault, was a ball slightly behind Amari Rodgers and the CB made a really good undercut on the ball to make the play.

Aside from the interceptions, Love had a relatively nice night. He was more in rhythm, got the ball out quickly, and made a couple good throws on the move. He laid the ball out perfectly for the first touchdown pass of the game to Doubs. Love hit former Wisconsin wideout Danny Davis for his second touchdown of the game; Love said after the game that he changed the play at the line before the snap and was aiming for a back-shoulder throw to Davis, however, the ball was a little more up field then Love wanted but Davis made a nice adjustment and took it in for the score. Love did have a few balls that were either thrown behind or a little high (one that could have easily been an interception that turned into a Winfree reception); he also overthrew Doubs for what likely would have been a touchdown early in the game.  

You could argue that there was a total of five drops, but the Juwann Winfree catch should have been an incompletion, so if you take away the four drops, two of which led to interceptions, Love finished the night 13/20, 176 Yards, 2 TDS, and 1 INT for a passer rating of 105.4; he also added 4 runs for 24 yards. Coach Matt LaFleur commented after the game that two of the interceptions weren’t on Love and that he was pleased with the performance. Overall, there are definitely things for Love to improve on, but there was a lot of things to like as well, and compared to last year, Love seems to have taken some strides in the right direction and will look to build on this performance.

2. Solid night from the offensive line

It’s hard to judge the offensive line while watching the television broadcast, but they held up pretty nicely. Love had a pretty clean pocket for the first half and didn’t get sacked; the line only had one sack charged against them all night on a Danny Etling scramble. There was also a couple nice runs and a really well executed screen. The push upfront definitely needs to improve because they were stuffed on a couple third and short runs and Jake Hanson had the only penalty of the night for the offensive line. Overall, the Packers ended the night with 34 rushes for 141 yards and a respectable 4.1 yards per carry average and the offensive line held up nicely.

3. Competition for third running back wide open

Tyler Goodson started and seen a majority of the work. He showed that he is very quick and shifty, but his size makes it hard for him to break any tackles and he got smacked pretty good a couple of times. Goodson finished the night with 12 carries for 37 yards (3.1 yards per carry average) and added 2 catches for 24 yards. Goodson may turn out to be more of a gadget player rather than someone the Packers would lean on to handle a heavy workload.

Aside from Goodson, BJ Baylor showed some explosion on a long catch and run from a gorgeous pass by Etling, and Dexter Williams broke off a nice 25-yard run. Patrick Taylor had a pretty quiet night and got his hands on two balls that he couldn’t reel in. Overall, it looks like Goodson is likely leading the competition for the third running back role, but no one showed enough to pass up Kylin Hill once he’s healthy.

4. Young wide receivers make an impact

Romeo Doubs showed that he can definitely get behind the defense, but he also showed that he is a rookie as he had a roller coaster of a night. On his first target of the game, he beat his defender, but Love over threw him. On his second target, he once again beat his defender and this time Love hit him for a 33-yard touchdown on 4^th down. He also got behind his defender again later in the game and should have drawn a pass interference call, but the official called illegal contact instead. For the not so good, Love made a great throw on the run to a wide-open Doubs, but Doubs dropped it. Later in the game Doubs attempted to make what would have been a tough catch, but one he would expect to make, and bobbled it allowing the defender to take it away for an interception. Overall, he finished with 3 receptions for 45 yards and the touchdown. It may have been first game jitters that led to the drops, but Doubs certainly showed he is worth the hype and can get open.

Danny Davis, the undrafted free agent wide receiver out of Wisconsin, was the recipient of Love’s second touchdown. Love attempted to make a back-shoulder throw, but missed his spot and the pass pulled Davis inside of the defender. Davis was able to make a good adjustment, cut back in to make the catch, and finished it with a nice run after the catch into the end zone for the second 33-yard touchdown of the night. Davis finished with 2 receptions, 45 yards, and the touchdown.

Amari Rodgers had a fairly good night as well. He took a short Etling pass and turned it up field and showed off his athleticism by tip-toeing along the sidelines and diving for the endzone. Rodgers also broke off a 50-yard kick return and took an end around for 4 yards. However, on his one punt return opportunity, he made the fair catch much harder than it should have been by going to his knees to catch it.

Lastly, both Juwann Winfree (3 receptions for 27 yards) and seventh-round draft pick Samori Toure (3 receptions for 42 yards) chipped in nicely.

5. Special teams still a work in progress

The special teams started out rough with a penalty on a nice kickoff return to start the game, but somewhat settled down aside from a terrible kick by a kicker that will likely be off the roster very soon. Amari Rodgers had the one 50-yard return, but the other 3 returns averaged less than 20 yards each, granted some of those returns would have been kneel downs in a regular season game. The new punter Pat O’Donnell averaged 44 yards on his two punts and there weren’t any obvious bad long snaps. Overall, special teams performed fine, however, if Mason Crosby isn’t healthy soon, it may be time to panic because there is no way Green Bay can roll into the season with Gabe Brkic as their kicker.

6. Defensive line shows it's depth

Like the offensive line, it is hard to really judge the defensive line without the game tape, but T.J. Slaton looked really good. Slaton ran right through his blocker on the second play of the game and assisted on a tackle for loss a few plays later. Shortly after those two plays, Slaton started to see double teams. Jack Heflin made a tackle for loss and had a couple nice stops at the line as well. Additionally, rookie Kingsley Enagbare and Tipa Galeai had sacks. Overall, the defensive line finished with 4 tackles for loss and 2 sacks while allowing a 4.1 yard per carry average (if you remove the kneel downs to end the game). With Kenny Clark, Jarran Reed, Dean Lowry, and Devonte Wyatt all sitting out this game, the Packers have some exciting depth up front.

All stats in this post were sourced from ESPN.  

Can Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers offense succeed without a WR1?

 

The Green Bay Packers traded Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders this past offseason and added several players to fill the void, namely Sammy Watkins, Christian Watson and training camp standout Romeo Doubs. The Packers have retained Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb as well in the receiver room. 

The Green Bay Packers did also let Marquez Valdes-Scantling leave in free agency, however his role will likely be filled on day 1 by Christian Watson who has the size and speed to grow into a formidable deep threat. That still leaves the production of Davante Adams to replace and based on the offseason moves and quotes from Head Coach Matt LaFleur the Packers seemed committed to filling that production by committee. 

Matt LaFleur has described the wide receiver room as "fluid" several times and has also said the Packers will go with "the guy who gives us the best chance to win." To me that suggests that the Packers may go with a hot hand approach at the position and while the Packers may not have a wide receiver who finishes with a WR1 looking season, there may be weeks where any given receiver could have a WR1 game. That said Packers fans should begin adopting the mindset that the Packers will not have one single wide receiver that sees double digit targets and receptions week in and week out. More to that, the Packers and Aaron Rodgers have had success in seasons like that.

You have to go back a while to find a season that Aaron Rodgers didn't have a true number one receiver, back before Davante Adams and before Jordy Nelson was a household name. Going all the way back to 2012 was the last time Rodgers and the Packers didn't have a 1,000 yard wide receiver. Randall Cobb was the leading receiver with 954 yards on 80 receptions. During that 2012 season the Packers leading rusher, Alex Green, with 464 yards, not exactly demanding the kind of attention that Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon will this season, meaning the Packers' current stable of wide receivers should have more opportunity to face one on one coverage while teams are concerned about stopping or slowing the Packers' run game. The second leading rusher on the 2012 Packers? Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers was second on the 2012 Green Bay Packers with 259 rushing yards on the season.

You might hear those stats and think it must have been a rough season for the Packers in 2012, but the Packers went 11-5 that season. The next thing someone might say is they only played bad teams, also not true, the Packers had the fifth ranked strength of schedule in 2012. The next argument someone may pivot to is that the Packers must have just squeaked by winning close games, also not the case, the Packers were fifth in scoring in 2012 at 27.1 points per game.

So what kind of production could the Packers get from the wide receivers? Looking at Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Sammy Watkins, the veterans, first, I took their careers and found what their per season averages were, and assuming these players have just the average of what they have done in their careers, these seasons would still be helpful for the Packers. Allen Lazard's average season calculates to 44 receptions for 597 yards and five touchdowns. While it is certainly conceivable that Allen Lazard takes a step forward and exceeds all of these numbers in his fourth season, I'm showing the averages just to show what these numbers could add up to for Aaron Rodgers before factoring in tight ends, running backs and anyone else who catches passes from Rodgers.

Randall Cobb has played 11 seasons in the NFL and his career averages calculate to 71 receptions, 859 yards and 6.8 touchdowns. These numbers may be a little high for what Randall Cobb may be expecting in 2022 but are certainly within the realm of possibility provided Cobb can remain healthy. 

The last of the veterans I looked at is Sammy Watkins, over eight seasons in the NFL Sammy Watkins averages per season over his career are 60 receptions, 869 yards and five touchdowns. Like Cobb, if Watkins can stay healthy these numbers are certainly within the realm of possibility.

Switching to the rookies, Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, I looked over the last five seasons for some notable players drafted in the second and fourth rounds and looked at their rookie seasons and averaged them out. For second round picks I looked at Elijah Moore and Rondale Moore, both drafted last season, Tee Higgins, Michael Pittman and Laviska Shenault drafted in 2020. Deebo Samuel and AJ Brown who were drafted in 2019, Cortland Sutton and Christian Kirk who were drafted in 2018 and JuJu Smith-Schuster who was drafted in 2017. Now I know non-Packer fans will say things like "Christian Watson isn't as good as those guys", well they were all second round talents based on the fact that they were all drafted in the second round, and I'm looking strictly at the averages of their rookie seasons. I am also aware that it is possible that Watson doesn't play as well as these guys did their rookie seasons, but I am looking at what a potential rookie season could look like based on the averages of these 10 players rookie seasons. The average of these 10 players rookie seasons is 61 receptions, 838 yards and five touchdowns, I think I speak for all Packers fans when I say we would be thrilled with those type of numbers.

Finally I looked at fourth round rookie seasons from the last five years at wide receiver. The players I have drawn averages for are Amon-Ra St. Brown, drafted last season, Gabriel Davis drafted in 2020, Keke Coutee who was drafted in 2018 and Dede Westbrook who was drafted in 2017. There weren't a ton of fourth round rookies to compare to but looking at these players per game averages from their rookie seasons. Keke Coutee's rookie season he had Deshaun Watson at quarterback but also had DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller on his team, Dede Westbrook had Blake Bortles and Cody Kessler as his quarterbacks and led Jacksonville in receiving. Gabriel Davis had a capable Josh Allen as his quarterback but had to compete with Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley and John Brown for targets. Amon-Ra was forced into a WR1 with Detroit last season so there is a variance of roles and production among these four receivers, their averages come out to 68 receptions, 799 yards and four touchdowns. While the hype coming from Romeo Doubs in camp makes these numbers seem possible, we will have to wait and see what he can do, but like the possible numbers for Watson, these numbers would be fantastic for Doubs to put up in his rookie season.

So what do all these averages add up to to help Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers offense? Adding Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Sammy Watkins, Christian Watson's rookie potential averages and Romeo Doubs' rookie potential averages add up to 304 receptions, 3,962 yards and 26 touchdowns. Again, that is before you factor in tight ends, running backs and whoever else gets some opportunity at wide receiver outside those five discussed. Aaron Rodgers may be in for another season very similar to his 2012 campaign and the Packers in for another run at a Super Bowl.