Packers' return from bye provides showcase for Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson
For the first time in over a month, rookie wideouts Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs will share the field for the Packers.
Good morning!
Another NFL Sunday came and went without the Green Bay Packers taking the field. However, the wait for more action from the green and gold ends tonight when the Packers host the reigning-champion Los Angeles Rams at Lambeau Field.
Today's edition of The Leap covers the most significant personnel development of the week for Green Bay as well as some big questions about their near future.
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All signs point to Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs sharing the field for the first time in over a month during Monday's game, perhaps for their most meaningful snaps played together to date. How do you expect the Packers to balance Watson's rise with Doubs' return from injury?
Jason B. Hirschhorn: With two full weeks to prepare, I don't expect Christian Watson to take a backseat to anyone in the Packers' receiving corps. If anything, the extra time to game plan should result in an increase in targets for Watson. To date, the rookie has seen more than six targets in a game twice, and one of those came in an overtime win over the Dallas Cowboys. Given the potential for explosive plays, Green Bay should look to get the ball in his hands more frequently.
But that doesn't mean Romeo Doubs shouldn't see a handful of touches as well. Before his high-ankle sprain, the fourth-round pick had become the Packers' most targetted wideout after Allen Lazard (and the gap between the two had shrunk considerably). With Watson likely drawing extra attention from the Rams defense, Doubs could profit. Green Bay can create matchup advantages for him in the slot and in motion, two areas in which he has already thrived.
Of course, the Packers could opt to slowly ease Doubs back into action. Head coach Matt LaFleur suggested just that when pressed about how much action the rookie would see against the Rams.
"I think you've got to be realistic about it," LaFleur said Friday. "Here's a guy that hasn't played football in a long time. I think he's done a nice job out at practice. But again, I think you just go to be realistic and not put too much on his plate."
While not an unreasonable explanation on the surface, it ignores some important context. Doubs warmed up before Week 13's matchup with the Chicago Bears and might have played if the bye week and the opportunity to let him fully recover hadn't directly followed. Doubs has now practiced in full for an entire week after the team eased him back the previous few weeks.
Perhaps Doubs does play on a snap count, but Green Bay probably doesn't need to do so at this point. Accordingly, look for Doubs to see more than just a handful of snaps on Monday Night Football.
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Peter Bukowski: The simple answer: I don’t. This offense belongs to Christian Watson until further notice. Watson missed three weeks in October after failing to make much of an impact in the passing game prior to that, yet when he returned against the Bills, immediately started and we found out after the game, much of the plan was specifically for Watson.
Doubs put together a spectacular training camp and earned the respect of both his teammates and quarterback. For a fourth-round rookie, that’s an accomplishment in its own right. For a time, Doubs looked like he had the potential to become the focal point of a good passing offense and even if that’s still the case, Watson actually became the focal point of a good passing offense (even if it’s not as good as we’ve come to expect in Green Bay).
Still, there’s enormous value in Doubs and Watson sharing the field, both schematically and for continuity. They represent the future of the Packers passing attack and their skillsets can be supremely complementary with Watson’s deep threat opening some of the intermediate portions of the field for Doubs to show off more route running prowess than we’ve been able to see for large stretches of his rookie season precisely because without Watson, he was the only other receiver who could run the clear-outs and double-move outside routes that open up space for everyone else.
Now, he can be the guy having the scheme work for him, as Watson draws attention from defenses with safety help over the top, the middle of the field parts like the green and gold sea for Doubs.
Against a team 31st in deep passing DVOA, there could be fireworks.
In 2023, the Packers' top challenge within the NFC North will come from …
JBH: … Detroit Lions.
That prediction says more about the Packers' other NFC North rivals than anything else. The Minnesota Vikings have an 11-3 record and will enter 2023 as the reigning division champs, but their on-field performance hardly reflects that record. The Vikings had to pull off seemingly impossible comebacks and/or pull a huge turnover out of their rears on too many occasions this season to recount here, and most of the advanced metrics see them as a middling-to-bad squad. The Bears might finally have a quarterback, but their offensive supporting cast and defense remain under construction. At least for now, Chicago seems at least a year away.
Meanwhile, the Lions have quietly put together a top-10 offense by DVOA and have made progress on defense even if that unit still lags behind. Jared Goff offers a limited ceiling under center, but his supporting cast features genuine playmakers such as Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jamaal Williams, and D'Andre Swift. Add in Jameson Williams, who remains less than a year removed from an ACL tear and already looks explosive again, and Detroit has real firepower.
And while the Lions might have the inside track here just on those factors alone, they also own the Rams' first-round pick in the upcoming draft (currently projected as a top-5 selection). That could help the team find a long-term answer at quarterback, secure another field-tilter for the defense, or accomplish multiple goals as an asset for a QB-needy trade partner.
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PB: I want Jason to be right. The Vikings are frauds and their fan base needs professional counseling. But they have more top-end talent than the Lions and the quarterback has a proven track record of success against the Packers, one of the few in the league who can say that.
The unfortunate reality for the Packers is they missed their chance to get while the getting was good in the NFC North over the last few years. The Lions were terrible. The Bears were equally terrible. And the Vikings were too busy peeing their pants to notice anyone else was terrible. Two NFC Championship Games and a No. 1 overall seed are nice, but they aren’t Super Bowls.
In 2023 and '24, this division will only get more competitive as Justin Fields ages up, the Bears spend their war chest of free-agent dollars, and the Lions build on their nascent rise to #RestoreTheRoar.
It almost doesn’t matter if it’s the Vikings or the Lions because they’ll both be legitimate contenders for playoff spots in 2023, and the Bears, with the right tweaking, could be as well even if I still have questions about Fields’ viability as a passer.
Being kings in the North will start to mean a little more because this will be a much more competitive field.
Which hypothetical scenario helps the Packers more next season: running the table to close 2022 without making the playoffs or losing out and securing a top-10 draft pick?
JBH: Even if it doesn't result in a playoff berth, running the table to end this season would do more for the Packers than losing out and securing a top-10 pick. While such selections come around rarely in Wisconsin, they hold the most value for teams in need of a quarterback. With Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love under contract for 2023, Green Bay won't find itself in that market during the upcoming offseason.
And more to the point, the Packers' best chance to compete for a Super Bowl in the near future involves building on the positives of this season (a quality rookie class headlined by Watson, Doubs, and Zach Tom), improving the defensive leadership with a coordinator change, and convincing Rodgers to return for another run. Green Bay wouldn't enter 2023 as the title favorite, but the team should have a realistic shot under those circumstances.
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PB: Proving this roster is actually good brings more value than any pick in the top 10. Beyond the obvious cultural implications of getting to go on a run and adding experience for young players in high-leverage moments, knowing for sure this roster isn’t as deeply flawed as it looks at times, sets the Packers up to try and contend in 2023 and beyond, which, as we’ve covered, will be a tougher task in the North than it has been in years past.
Plus, the difference between the eighth pick and the 16th or 18th pick in most drafts isn’t that big, especially when we expect a slew of quarterbacks to come off the board in the top 15. Running the table, making the playoffs, and proving this season wasn’t a waste because the said running of the table would require considerable growth from young players and the team as a whole. It would set them up for success.
All that said, the worst case is playing to the whistle in Week 18, missing the playoffs anyway, still getting the 15th pick, and not getting the chance to see more Jordan Love. And by the way, that’s very much in play.