It won't be easy for Packers to find right veteran pass catcher
Big-name veteran receivers could be available this offseason, but the Packers can't go after just anyone as they try to load up for a Super Bowl run.
Good morning!
The Green Bay Packers aren’t the Super Bowl champions. Sorry.
But they did play the Philadelphia Eagles as tough as anyone, despite a depleted roster in the NFC Wild Card round. General manager Brian Gutekunst says they’re ramping up the “urgency” to win a title which means closing the talent gap with Philly.
Today's edition of The Leap looks at why finding the right pass catcher will be a tougher task than social media is making it seem. Plus, expect another trench draft from the Packers.
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Josh Jacobs wants a veteran receiver, but finding the right fit won’t be as simple as he (or Packers Twitter) is making it seem
Peter Bukowski: Just go get Davante Adams. OK, sure. He’s not something Gutekunst can run down to Target and pick up with self-checkout. To assure his services, the Packers would have to trade for Adams and his $35.6 million base salary for 2025. That’s assuming the Jets would be amenable to trading him to Green Bay after the way their last superstar trade went down.
A different front office won’t insulate the Packers from ownership f***ery, which is always a possibility when dealing with the Johnsons. Woody or whatever Succession character son is in town from Mallorca that day may not want to deal with Green Bay after the Aaron Rodgers fiasco. They also might not be the only team bidding.
ESPN and NFL Network reported that Adams preferred to be on the West Coast, which could signal the LA teams and the San Francisco 49ers to come to get him. Hitting the open market risks Adams picking a different situation, the same basic dilemma the Packers would be hoping to avoid in a trade of their own.
Trading for Adams would give his side leverage in contract negotiation, but it removes the bidding war of the open market and the chance he chooses better weather.
Speaking of California teams, both Cooper Kupp and Deebo Samuel are being shopped. Each fit the kind of veteran presence Jacobs would like to see, someone who can not only create for himself but take attention away from the Packers’ young nucleus of receivers. But putting Kupp or Samuel on the field likely means taking Jayden Reed off it, thus removing Green Bay’s most dynamic receiver.
Tee Higgins fired his agent, a signal to some in the Cincinnati media he wanted to get a deal done to remain with the Bengals. Even if he walks, he’ll cost upward of $30 million a year and has missed 10 games over the last two seasons with injury. He’s never been a true alpha WR1 even if he has the right build and catch profile. There’s also significant historical risk of signing a receiver off an elite offense that wasn’t the top guy on his team.
Jersey-swap legend DK Metcalf would assuage the loss of Christian Watson’s vertical production and then some, but he needs a new contract, has never been the third-and-8 receiver you can build a consistent passing game around, and isn’t the type of established veteran leader a team would want to mentor their young group. The only reason he’d even be available is because the team would have decided Jaxon Smith-Njigba needs to be the focal point of the offense, which undercuts the whole reason for Green Bay acquiring him in the first place.
That leaves Stefon Diggs coming off a significant injury, Keenan Allen who is also a slot-mostly receiver at this point in his career, Chris Godwin (ditto), and the not-good-enough-for-the-Buffalo-Bills-to-keep Amari Cooper, assuming he hits the market.
Do any of those guys draw the necessary attention to create one-on-ones for others? Do they get open well enough at this point to be the team’s third-down guy?
Where does that bring us? Like Thanos, back to Adams. We are only a handful of months removed from the former All-Pro dismantling the Baltimore Ravens practically by himself. He’s a known quantity in the Packers locker room to the coaches, the front office, and most importantly, to the quarterback.
If the Packers want to add a veteran receiver -- and that’s a Lambeau-sized “if” -- then Adams makes by far the most sense of any of the potential options. Even then, he still has to want to come and the Jets have to be willing to move him.
What’s the most relevant Super Bowl takeaway for the Packers?
PB: They have to hit in the trenches like the Eagles have, which likely means taking more swings this April. Lukas Van Ness regressed in Year 2 despite his estimable physical tools. Injuries scuttled the rookie season of Jordan Morgan, a player the Packers believed could start right away for them.
If Morgan had been healthy, the Packers offense may have been functional against the Philadelphia four-man rush. Without him and Elgton Jenkins, the team had no hope.
For those who questioned the Morgan pick at the time, it’s easier now to see the vision of how valuable he could be. He competes to start in Year 1 and, in the worst case, he’s a quality backup because Sean Rhyan won the job. If he can come in rather than Travis Glover or Kadeem Telfort and provide quality play, who knows how the outcome of the Packers’ season changes?
Lamenting the potential of Cooper DeJean might make some Packers fans feel better, but ironically, if the Eagles team looked a little different, Morgan is exactly the kind of monster lineman Howie Roseman would have drafted. He believes in building the lines first, much like Gutekunst.
The Eagles could take DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell because they had Jalen Carter, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, et al. They had a no-doubt top-3 offensive line locked in off the rip Day 1. That’s closer to where the Packers find themselves heading into this season than last when they may not have been convinced Rasheed Walker was a long-term starter, Zach Tom was a long-term tackle, or Rhyan was even a short-term starter.
Walker and Rhyan are pretty good, Tom is one of the best right tackles in the NFL, and Morgan may have to move to play, but Philly just reoriented their offensive line around, moving a guard to center to facilitate their talent. The Packers are not in a position to do the same and more aggressively attack need positions in the draft if they so choose.
For them, it’s the same though: They still need bodies on the defensive side of the ball. Kenny Clark just had the worst year of his career, Rashan Gary’s play fell off a cliff, Devonte Wyatt hasn’t established himself as a starter, and the aforementioned Van Ness got outplayed comfortably by Brenton Cox.
They need a pass rusher. Maybe two. Expect the trench picks to continue until morale improves.
I expect both! Trench picks and a shiny new toy or two. Hopefully, we also see a little improvement from our coach. He used to scheme receivers open, didn't he? Or have I mistaken him with someone else?