Packers know they don’t have a No. 1 receiver; here why they ‘don’t think it matters’

Last season’s Green Bay Packers had one of the most unusual wide receiver rooms in recent memory NFL history. All of the receivers in their regular rotation entered the league in 2022 or 2023, meaning they were all first- or second-year players.

Christian Watson, the team’s second-round pick in 2022, was the oldest of the group at just 24 years old. He entered the season with the expectation of serving as the team’s likely top target, but injuries caused him to miss games and limited him in several others, and the Packers evolved their offense into a much more egalitarian attack. They didn’t really have the big picture.

Romeo Doubs (96) had the most targets, while Jayden Reed led the group in receptions (64) and yards (793). Those numbers ranked 38th (targets), 35th (receptions) and 35th (yards) among receivers league-wide. Doubs’ 17.1% team share target, via Tru Media, ranked 40th, while Reed’s 24.4% route rate target ranked 23rd.

Still don’t understand the photo? Consider that there were 204 instances last season in which a wide receiver was the target of at least 30% of his team’s pass attempts, and only two of those games belonged to a Packers receiver. To put that into perspective, a Packers opponent targeted a specific wide receiver on at least 30% of his throws in Weeks 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, and 18. That’s six times in eight weeks! That’s how different the Packers’ ball distribution philosophy was from the rest of the league.

Green Bay is now entering the 2024 season with virtually the same group available. Watson is back, as are Doubs and Reed, along with Dontayvion Wicks, Bo Melton, Malik Heath and Samori Toure. Again, there is not necessarily a “No. 1” receiver type in this group. But the Packers don’t care.

“Personally, I don’t think it matters,” said coach Matt LaFleur, via Atlético. “I think if you look back over the season — and every season will be a little different — all of these guys had their moments where they were the leading receivers in a game. about collective unity. The hardest part is that we feel so good about them, it’s hard to give everyone the amount of touching you’d like to receive, but that’s a good problem to have.

In fact, Watson, Reed, Doubs, Wicks and Melton all had games where they led the Packers in receiving. But as mentioned before, they didn’t necessarily get many targets, as the wealth was more spread out than in other squads. But Love said it suits his style of play.

“I think one thing I’ve always tried to do is just act the play,” he said. “Play the play, analyze my reads and find out who is open. Don’t try to force it, because I feel like when you try to trap a guy and force him, not great things happen and then you might miss someone who might be open to the game. … It depends on the game, if there’s a certain guy I want to analyze in terms of matchups and things like that, I’ll go to him, but I just like playing.

Perhaps one or two of these players will separate themselves from the rest of the pack in 2024. They all have different skill sets, and some may be more consistently useful than others. But having too much wide receiver depth is the kind of thing that will never really be a problem. problemespecially in a league that relies as much on the passing game as the modern NFL.