The Green Bay Packers have identified their darlings of summer.
Romeo Doubs has stolen the show at wide receiver throughout training camp, and the return of fellow rookie Christian Watson has fans amped up. It’s the perfect time for Aaron Rodgers to deliver his annual rant to level everyone out.
Rodgers voiced his displeasure with some of the repeat mistakes being made by the younger wideouts on the roster on Monday.
“The young guys, especially young receivers, we’ve got to be way more consistent,” Rodgers said. “A lot of drops, a lot of bad route decisions, running the wrong route. We’ve got to get better in that area.”
If that wasn’t enough to jump-start the engines and help everyone refocus, the wideouts conferred in the quarterback meeting room on Wednesday before practice.
The results, as expected, seemed to be favorable.
“It was just really giving us advice,” rookie receiver Samori Toure said. “Basically, letting us know that the Green Bay receiving corps has always been held to a super-high standard. All the legends who have been through here. It’s just about us carrying on that standard and stepping up.” (per ESPN)
“He just wants us to see what he sees,” said Doubs, a fourth-round pick. “So then that way we can be able to react faster, play faster, and just be able to dominate and continue to be who we are.”
The timing to call out the wideouts is nothing short of a strategic move by Rodgers.
Right when the rookies might start to buy into the hype around them — and right as complacency could set in — Rodgers is making sure that doesn’t happen.
What’s rich is seeing some analysts diagnose this as a problem of Rodgers not taking some responsibility for the miscues. That’s just not the point. Rodgers seems to do this annually, and it only benefits the players, the morale, and the vibes in the long run.
Who remembers last year when Rodgers snapped at Josh Myers during a practice at training camp? This isn’t new.
It’s not to say it’s an act. What Rodgers voiced holds truth as the Packers get set to enter the regular season with a whole lot of unknowns at wide receiver. He isn’t exaggerating in his assessment of practice, he’s just being strategic about bringing the topic to the table.
A reset might be what’s needed at this juncture, with roster cuts looming around the corner. There’s a pretty good sense of who will make the final 53 at wideout. The two rookies, Doubs and Watson, are locks. What isn’t a certainty is exactly what role that they, or another rookie like Samori Toure, could have in the offense.
Rodgers expects greatness, as most quarterbacks do, regardless of where a player was selected. In years past, Green Bay’s rookie wideouts had the advantage of lower expectations early on because of the strength at the top of the wide receiver group.
Amari Rodgers was selected in the third round last year. With Davante Adams on the roster, there was no pressure on Amari to be “the guy” right away. In fact, there were no expectations for him to even be the slot guy from the jump, with Randall Cobb coming back into the picture via trade.
Amari Rodgers went on to have an underwhelming rookie season on both offense and special teams, but it flew somewhat under the radar because of who else the Packers had at wideout.
They don’t have that luxury this year. For the first time in a long time, the Packers will need immediate contributions from many of their young receivers.
Aaron Rodgers knows it too, hence the timing of his rant.
Green Bay is entering its second preseason game, but there are only three exhibition affairs compared to the four of recent years. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for the Packers to sift through their options and figure out who will wear what hat. The young wideouts must eliminate the simple mistakes Rodgers is harping on while getting a better understanding of how the maestro directs the show.
It isn’t going to be a walk in the park.
There will be growing pains in the regular season, as there are with most rookies who get thrown into the gauntlet early on. Even Amari Rodgers, who is in his second year, will likely see the ebbs and flows as his snap count continues to rise.
This wasn’t a random act by No. 12. It may seem to have came out of nowhere to everyone else, but it was the perfect time to chime in and get everyone refocused.
