The Green Bay Packers there is an obvious weakness in the wide receiver after the transaction Davante Adams arrive Las Vegas Raiders and lose Marquez Valdes-Scantling arrive Chief of Kansas City in free agent.
Coach Matt LaFleur made no attempt to hide it, and he knew they had to do something important to address the issues in the position.
“Sure, if you look at our roster right now, we definitely need to get up to speed in that room,” LaFleur said Tuesday at the NFL owners’ meeting in Palm Beach, Florida. . “We needed a legit guy who could top the list. We lost a guy who was pretty good at it.”
LaFleur calls Adams their “splitter” because of the way the All-Pro runs precise routes and creates space, even against doubles teams. He dubbed Valdes-Scantling “our speed guy,” because of his penchant for catching the ball deep.
At this point, the top of the Packer depth graph at the receiver includes Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and second year professional Amari Rodgers. They also lost Equinomous St. Brown for Bears in free dealer.
“It’s like putting a puzzle together; you have to find the pieces you’re missing and put them all together,” says LaFleur. “How did it end up? Right now I don’t know.”
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has armed himself with plenty of draft picks and will probably eventually break the NFL’s second-longest picks record without a receiver, as Green Bay didn’t take one. turns since Javon Walker in 2002. Raiders-traded Adams made the first and second picks this year, meaning Green Bay has picks 22, 28, 53 and 59 in the first two rounds.
“To replace someone like Davante Adams, this would be a multifaceted approach,” says Gutekunst. “It won’t look like a singular guy.”
And it may not be a single approach.
While Gutekunst recently attended pro days at Ohio State and Penn State, where recipients like Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jahan Dotson might be playing, there’s still a chance the Packers could add a veteran receiver or two. Among the free agents still available are Will be more completemost recent of Dolphin and who the Packers tried to trade in 2020 when he was with Texans. Probably the best option through trading is DK Metcalfif Seattle Seahawks Football Team willing to make a deal.
Those may be better options than expecting a rookie to make an immediate impact, given how hard Rodgers is known for working with rookies. Even Adams, a second-round pick, took until the third season to find his stride and connection with Rodgers. Valdes-Scantling, who picked in the fifth round, also struggled early in his career. Last season, Amari Rodgers, who was selected in the third round, caught only four passes in 45 yards as a rookie.
“I witnessed it,” LaFleur said. “It’s a process, like everything is. And the more time we can get those people out on the field and put them in certain situations to allow them to learn and grow, hopefully we can be creative in ways we can expedite that process. So I don’t know. It’s going to be very interesting.”
At least LaFleur has a back four that have ruled MVP twice. Speaking for the first time since Rodgers decided to return for the 2022 season, LaFleur said he received the news via text message during an attack planning meeting and “actually dropped it immediately to make sure that I read it in the correct way.”
“I think he’s going to go as long as he wants to go,” LaFleur said when asked if he was conscious of how long Rodgers could play after the 38-year-old signed a three-year, valuable extension. 150 million dollars. “… Those aren’t the kinds of conversations we see often. So we’ll make the most of the time he’s with us and keep working hard and training to hope for a better future. maybe win the Super Bowl someday.”
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley contributed to this report.
