While many members of the Green Bay Packers had some of their worst performances on Sunday against the New York Jets, tight end Robert Tonyan is coming off his best game of the season.
With the passing game sputtering, Tonyan was the one constant for Aaron Rodgers as he hauled in 10 receptions on 12 targets for 90 yards. In fact, Tonyan became the first Green Bay tight end to record 10 catches in a single game.
In addition to Tonyan making his greatest impact of the season, he also saw the most playing time that he’s seen in 2022 by a fairly wide margin.
Coming off an ACL injury, Tonyan has played in each game this season but is being worked back slowly, averaging just 29 snaps per contest from Week 1 through Week 5, or playing around 45% of the total offensive snaps. Compared to 2020, Tonyan’s last fully healthy season, this is a fairly steep drop off from the 61% of snaps he played that season.
This past Sunday, however, we saw Tonyan’s usage return to a more normal level as he was on the field for 63% of the Packers’ offensives snaps, or 46 snaps, to be exact.
Despite less playing time to begin the season, Tonyan has remained as reliable as ever, catching 27 of his 31 targets for 219 yards and a touchdown.
“Bobby’s done a nice job. Every opportunity that he’s gotten, he’s been able to produce,” said Matt LaFleur on Wednesday. “He’s got to continue to keep going because I still think there’s still stuff that he’s getting back used to doing. But certainly, he’s delivered when given those opportunities.”
When LaFleur says “stuff,” I imagine he is referring to Tonyan’s playmaking abilities, something we often saw in 2020, but rarely in 2022. This season, he is averaging just 8.1 yards per catch compared to an average of 11.2 yards per catch during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Among eligible tight ends, Tonyan ranks 35th out of 40 players in yards per catch, according to PFF.
A few weeks ago, Aaron Rodgers was asked about Tonyan’s progression since returning from injury, and like LaFleur, he discussed Tonyan’s after-the-catch abilities and building that confidence.
“He’s got good moves, he can also put his head down, but I also want to see him getting more comfortable putting that foot in the ground, and cutting off of it, and making some guys miss after the catch,” said Rodgers. “I think he’s getting close to that; he’s feeling better. He’s doing some really instinctual things out there. The next step is that little bit of confidence.”
In part, Tonyan’s yards per catch are down because of how he is being utilized and where he’s been targeted on the field. His average depth of target in 2022 is just 4.7 yards. Meanwhile, in 2020, Tonyan ranked tied for eighth among tight ends with 10 targets of 20-plus yards. And when again combining the previous two seasons (2020 and 2021), Tonyan’s average depth of target was at 9.0 yards.
As this Packers offense searches for that spark, Tonyan’s role continuing to increase can play a part in achieving that. His ability as a pass-catcher and to line up from the slot can create mismatches for himself as well as opportunities for others with the attention that he draws.
Tonyan also provides an element to this offense with his ability in the red zone and down the seam that others on this roster – specifically at the tight end position – just can’t. His presence was very much missed last season.
In part, it just may take more time for him to regain his past playmaking form– he did return from injury rather quickly, after all. But also, LaFleur and Rodgers have to do a better job of putting him in positions to make those plays.
