Most developments in the NFL preseason need to be taken with a grain of salt, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn things along the way. That was the case for the Green Bay Packers and some of the individual performances in their preseason opener against the Houston Texans.
Devin Funchess was an absolute monster from the jump on Saturday for Green Bay. He and Jordan Love were a vibe; you’d think they had been playing together for a decade. Their timing together was great, and overall Funchess proved he belonged in the wide receiver group.
What was once thought of as an area of need for the Packers is now a super-crowded wideout room. Just this offseason, Green Bay added three notable names to the position group. Funchess is returning after opting out of last year over pandemic concerns. The Packers also drafted Clemson wide receiver Amari Rodgers in Round 3. Then they traded for longtime Aaron Rodgers cohort Randall Cobb.
The wideout room was overflowing all of a sudden, and that allowed the idea that perhaps Funchess might not make the team. It’s just one preseason game, but it’s hard to imagine Matt LaFleur and Co. dumping Funchess after he showed his blend of strength and quickness while hauling in six receptions for 70 yards.
There are certain locks at wide receiver: Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Randall Cobb, Amari Rodgers. Those guys aren’t going anywhere. And it’s probably safe to put Allen Lazard on that list as well. Even though some teams would hesitate to carry six or even seven wide receivers in the lineup, Funchess marked his spot against the Texans and could be much more than just a roster-filler for Green Bay.
At 6’4” and 225 lbs., Funchess offers a different skill set than a lot of Green Bay’s other wideouts. Cobb is a shifty slot receiver. Valdes-Scantling is on the outside to take the lid off of a defense. Davante Adams is the best route runner in football, has some of the best hands, and can show off bursts of speed. Funchess has a big frame and tremendous physicality that could tempt Green Bay into giving him some good opportunities. He may struggle to find consistent targets, but Funchess shouldn’t have a problem making the final 53-man roster.
The counterpoint to Funchess’ sharp and effective play? Josh Jackson on the defensive side of the ball. It really is too bad how much Jackson seems to lack confidence, and his performance against the Texans won’t help.
Houston was noticeably picking on Jackson in the first half, and they had routine success doing so. This isn’t a huge surprise; there were indicators of this possibility last season.
Jackson filled in for Kevin King early on in the 2020 season when King was hampered by injuries. Upon King’s return, Jackson fell so far out of favor with the team that he was a healthy scratch for the stretch run of the season. A second-round pick from the 2018 NFL Draft class, Jackson wasn’t even in uniform for most of the second half of last year. And it’s not as though Green Bay was loaded at cornerback last season. In fact, outside of All-Pro Jaire Alexander, that was a glaring weakness for the Packers. Yet they still couldn’t justify it in their own minds to activate Jackson for game day.
As a result, the writing was on the wall entering this preseason, and Jackson looked miserable in his first shot to try and quell some of the skepticism.
Oftentimes conventional wisdom indicates that “he might just need a change of scenery.” Maybe that’s the case for Jackson, or maybe he just can’t compete at the next level. It’s baffling in part because many analysts had him pegged as a first-round talent in 2018 coming out of Iowa before he fell down the board to Green Bay in the second round. The Packers selected Alexander in the first round of the same draft, and there were hopes that the team landed their future starting cornerbacks back-to-back in one weekend. Fast forward to 2021, and the two couldn’t be on more different trajectories.
Jackson will likely have ample opportunity in the final two preseason games to show any sign of having turned things around.
We shouldn’t give too much weight to any given preseason game. However, for at least one outing, Devin Funchess stepped up and showed he belonged while Josh Jackson continued his downward spiral for the Packers.
