The Green Bay Packers don’t play football games in March. Or April. Or June. Or even July, for that matter.
The team’s receiver position might be in shambles after losing Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling this month, but the Packers have time to make additions before real games are played, and coach Matt LaFleur fully understands that there’s both need at the position and opportunity to find replacements.
LaFleur told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network that the Packers will “absolutely have to add some pieces to that room” over the next few months.
“Certainly there’s going to be opportunity, we’re still in free agency and then we’ve got the Draft,” LaFleur said, via Pelissero. “In my experience, there’s a lot of movement that can take place between now and the start of the season.”
Losing Adams and Valdes-Scantling means the Packers must replace 149 catches, 1,983 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns worth of production in the passing game. In 2020, Adams and Valdes-Scantling caught 24 of Aaron Rodgers’ 48 touchdown passes.
“You can’t look back and you gotta move forward,” LaFleur said.
As of Sunday, the Packers’ top two receivers are Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. The pair combined for 68 catches in 2021. Lazard’s career-high in catches is 40, while Cobb turns 32 years old in August and is primarily a slot receiver.
After Lazard and Cobb, the Packers have Amari Rodgers, Malik Taylor and Juwann Winfree at receiver.
Additions are coming. The Packers could sign a veteran receiver such as Odell Beckham Jr., Julio Jones, Jarvis Landry or Will Fuller. DeVante Parker or Laviska Shenault could be trade targets. The draft is deep at receiver, and the Packers have four top-60 picks and 11 picks overall. What the Packers have at receiver in late March won’t match what the Packers go into the 2022 season with at the position.
The question for Brian Gutekunst and the Packers is how the team wants to rebuild. Is a veteran option necessary, especially with Rodgers back for another run at a Super Bowl? Could the team get aggressive and bold and give up draft picks for a great receiver? Or will multiple high draft picks be used on acquiring new, cheap talent to develop? More than likely, some mix of the options is likely.
It will be difficult for the Packers to replace Adams, an All-Pro, and Valdes-Scantling, the team’s best deep threat, in one offseason. The receiver position won’t be as good in 2022. But both time and key roster-building avenues are available for the Packers to fix a weak spot on the roster before the start of training camp and the regular season. The team will add receivers. It’s just a matter of when, how and who.
