The Agonizing Decline of the Packers Wide Receiving Corp
(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Following the departure of Davante Adams in March, the Green Bay Packers find themselves in an uncertain situation for the first time in the Aaron Rodgers era. There is no clear-cut top wide receiver currently on their roster.
As it stands now, the Packers top options include old stalwarts in Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, former 1st round pick Sammy Watkins, 2021 3rd rounder Amari Rodgers (the heir to Cobb and for some of the Packers faithful), as well as 2022 draft picks Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs.
With question marks at Tight End as well, the Packers will have a lot to address in the next few months. However, it was not always like this for the Green and Gold.
Next Man Up
Since Aaron Rodgers took over as starting quarterback from Brett Farve in 2008, the Packers were never short of WR talent. Coming into that year, Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, and James Jones remained from the previous year’s 13-3 campaign that saw them fall short of a championship.
On top of that, the team drafted a player by the name of Jordy Nelson in the second round that year, who would see an increased role from the 2010 season. The team was set at the position (as well as having two strong Tight Ends in Donald Lee and Jermichael Finley) going into 2009 and 2010 seasons. The latter of which ended up being a championship year for the team.
In that game, both Jennings and Nelson had strong showings. Both combining for 13 catches, 209 yards, and 3 TDs in a 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Driver and Jones also did their part. However, the former would suffer an ankle injury after his second reception and the latter would drop multiple passes throughout the game.
With Driver nearing the end of his career, albeit still performing at a high level, the Packers would select Randall Cobb in the second round of the legendary 2011 NFL Draft. Due to the ongoing lockout at the time, Cobb would not be able to establish a rapport with his new team until late July.
But the Kentucky product would not keep the Packers faithful waiting to show that he was an impact player. In the season opener against the New Orleans Saints, Cobb would catch his first touchdown pass in the first quarter and return a kickoff 108 yards for a score in the third. The Packers would prevail in a 42-34 victory.
That same season, the Packers would embark on their best regular season record at 15-1. This was led largely in part by the passing attack. Headlined by Aaron Rodgers’ incredible MVP season, the core five of Driver, Jennings, Jones, Nelson, and Cobb would combine for 235 receptions, 3667 yards, and 38 touchdowns, establishing the group as the strongest corp in the league. Nelson finished third in TD receptions with 15 scores.
While the team would fall short of a second consecutive championship, the league was put on notice by these talented WRs. The following season would see another strong showing from the trio of James Jones, Jordy Nelson, and Randall Cobb, noticeable with Jones leading the league in touchdown receptions with 14.
As for Driver and Jennings, they would see a regression, with Driver seeing a reduced role, and Jennings having career lows all around. By the 2013 offseason, both were gone from the team, with Jennings going to the rival Vikings (and harboring animosity towards Rodgers) and Driver decided to call it a career.
During the 2013 season, both Aaron Rodgers and Randall Cobb suffered injuries that kept them out of action for seven and ten weeks, respectively, thus putting the Corp in the hands of Senaca Wallace and Scott Tolzien.
The team would struggle until they re-signed former backup Matt Flynn, who had established a rapport with the group during a Week 17 win in 2011 that saw him pass for 480 yards and six touchdowns.
Flynn did enough to keep the Packers hopes alive, and in Week 17, both Rodgers and Cobb returned to take on the Chicago Bears for the NFC North title, which saw the duo connect on a 4th and 8 in the waining moments of the game to take the lead and eventually win.
Despite the absence of his starting quarterback for nearly half the season, Jordy Nelson would establish himself as the Packers top WR. The sixth-year receiver started all 16 games and caught 85 passes for 1314 yards and eight scores, with seven of them coming in the first seven games.
During Rodgers absence, Nelson didn’t find the endzone more than once, but still proved to be a key contributor to keeping the Packers in postseason contention.
James Jones saw a drop in production as well, but still put-up respectable numbers (59 receptions for 817 yards and four touchdowns), and an unknown in Jarrett Boykin (probably one of the only articles you will see this one-year wonder for the Packers mentioned in 2022) stepped up in Cobb’s absence to take the reigns as WR2, putting up 49 catches for 681 yards and four touchdowns in 12 games.
New Blood Rising
With James Jones departure for the Raiders in the offseason, the Packers corp now consisted of Nelson, Cobb, and Boykin. The Packers brass decided with Cobb coming off an injury, and Boykin still needing to prove his worth that they would need to draft a receiver in the upcoming draft. They would yet again select one in the second round, with this one being their biggest coup yet in hindsight: Davante Adams, who would take over Boykin’s role during the season.
Behind yet another MVP season from Rodgers, both Nelson and Cobb would enjoy a season that saw both eclipse 90 catches for 1000 yards and 10 touchdowns a piece (which also saw Nelson break the team’s single season yards record), along with a good rookie season from Adams, who flew under the radar with 38 catches for 446 yards and four scores.
The 2014 Packers looked like their old 2011 outfit and were primed to make a run at the Super Bowl yet again. They would defeat the Dallas Cowboys 26-21 behind a strong showing from Rodgers and company, including what seemed to be Adams break out game (Seven catches for 117 yards) that saw him score a crucial touchdown in the fourth quarter to bring the lead to 21-20, before taking the lead on the next drive.
Randall Cob had yet another clutch moment when on 3rd and 11 with two minutes left, he caught a twelve-yard pass to seal the game for the Packers.
The team would lose the following week to the Seahawks in heartbreaking fashion, but nevertheless, the Packers corp was back to form….or so it seemed.
During the preseason in 2015, Jordy Nelson would suffer an ACL tear, thus putting him out for the season. This would lead to the Packers bringing back James Jones before the start of the regular season and yet again put-up numbers he was accustomed to in Green Bay (50 catches for 890 yards and 8 touchdowns).
However, the team would struggle to generate the same success as the year prior, as Rodgers and Cobb regressed, and Adams would see his worst season with one touchdown and dropping many passes after coming back from an ankle injury early in the year.
The most noticeable performance during the season came in the 4th quarter of the Divisional matchup against the Cardinals when former sixth round pick Jeff Janis caught a pass on 4th and 20 and a game tying Hail Mary Touchdown shortly after to send the game to overtime, which the Packer lost after the offense never saw the ball in the period.
That Hail Mary though. Perfection, have a look:
Going into 2016, all eyes would be on both the return of Nelson and if Adams would rebound from his nightmare of a season. The wide receiver would state before the season:
“Obviously, the season I had last year, I wasn’t proud of it. So I’ve got to change it and do what I’ve got to do to move forward.”
As it would turn out, both Nelson and Adams would rebound in a big way in 2016. Both scored double digit touchdowns, Nelson eclipsed over 1000 yards once again. Adams nearly achieved 1000 yards, but was three yards short. With the strong season, the third-year wide receiver jumped over Cobb on the depth chart (who once again was plagued by injury) and never looked back from there.
In 2017, with Aaron Rodgers missing nine games due to yet another broken collarbone, Adams was able to become the team’s top target after another double-digit touchdown season, coupled with a drop in production from Nelson.
Last Man Standing
With the departure of Jordy in the 2018 offseason to the Raiders (again taking another Packers receiver), there was no debate as to who Rodgers’ number one target was. Adams was far and way the best option, with Cobb yet again having an injury-shorten season.
The Packers attempted to fill the void left by Nelson by drafting J’Mon Moore, Marquez Valdez-Scantling (MVS), and Equanimeous (EQ) St. Brown in that year’s draft, which yielded mixed results. MVS was the best of the trio, catching 38 passes for 581 yards and two touchdowns, which was tied for second in touchdown receptions across the team.
That was a problem, considering Adams had 13 that same season, and no one else had more than two all year. The team would finish the year 6-9-1 and would fire Mike McCarthy in early December.
2019 would become a “prove-it” year for the corp. Randall Cobb departed for the Cowboys, thus leaving Adams the last (noticeable) receiver left from the McCarthy era. The Packers brought in Matt LaFleur as their new head coach, which would see the beginning of a new system that would see the team focus more on running the ball than in years prior.
It showed the first year when, despite another strong year, Davante Adams led the team with only five touchdown catches (also not helped by the fact that he missed four games) and was yet again three yards short of 1000 yards.
The team did greatly improve however, finishing 13-3 and earned the second seed in the NFC. They would fall to the 49ers in the NFC Championship game.
By the time of the 2020 NFL Draft, the Packers were widely speculated to draft a wide receiver in the first round for the first time since 2002, after not signing or trading for one in previous offseasons.
The buzz would prove to be false as the Packers ended up taking Quarterback Jordan Love after trading up to Pick 26 and would not draft a receiver at all that year.
Despite these questionable decisions, Rodgers would have his third MVP season with a record breaking and tying Adams leading the helm at receiver, catching 115 passes (as single season team record) for 1374 yards and 18 touchdowns (tied for a single season team record).
No other player would reach over 700 yards, and only one other player would have double digit touchdowns (Tight End Robert Tonyan). Yet again, the Packers would fall in the NFC Championship, with the lack of wide receivers being a point of contention.
In the 2021 offseason, speculation of Rodgers departure rocked the NFL world from April to July, which led to many also guessing that Adams would follow suit. In the draft, the team selected Amari Rodgers in the third round to hopefully boost the corp some more. It still seemed as though it wouldn’t be enough to bring Rodgers back.
However, the speculation died down Rodgers announced that he would return for the 2021 season, and Adams would as well. This would lead to an infamous post from the duo:
Considered to be “The Last Dance,” both yet again posted strong numbers. Rodgers won his fourth and second consecutive MVP. Adams broke his own team single season reception record and the team’s single season yards record, set by Jordy Nelson in 2014.
The team would also bring back Randall Cobb to sweeten the deal for Rodgers but would get injured (as always) and only start three games. No player outside of Adams would crack 600 yards receiving and only one player (Allen Lazard) would have more than six touchdown receptions.
Much like in years past, the Packers season ended in disappointment, as they fell to the 49ers in the Divisional Round in Lambeau Field. This would be Adams last game in a Packers uniform for the foreseeable future.
What now for the Packers?
In the offseason, Adams would be franchise tagged, then traded to the Las Vegas Raiders (there are far too many patterns going on here), and Rodgers would sign another contract extension that will see him play for the team until his mid-40s, unless voided.
As mentioned before, the corp currently (as of June 29th, 2022) consists of Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Sammy Watkins, Amari Rodgers, Christian Watson, and Romeo Doubs, along with other wide receivers looking to make the team and possibly step up to become the next great Packers pass catcher. However, unlike in years past, there is no clear-cut leader.
Sure, Cobb has the veteran presence and Lazard is the de facto WR1, but no one currently is in the role that was held by Driver, Jennings, Nelson, and Adams for so long (twenty years or so, but who’s keeping track?).
The Packers are shifting to a run first offense, so maybe it won’t matter in the end. But if they can’t get production out of their receivers, enough will be enough for their long time quarterback, this time for good.
