One of the older narratives carrying over into this season is the apparent lack of trust that quarterback Aaron Rodgers has in his rookie wide receivers. He, along with many established veteran quarterbacks, is notorious for slowly bringing along the young players. Speculation has suggested that he hasn’t trusted the first-years as much as he should have this year, but the tide could be turning on that front — though perhaps not by choice.
Rodgers’ weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show was informative, as always. McAfee asked Rodgers about the efficacy of Romeo Doubs and how he appears to be a “guy in the making” (15:37). McAfee followed it up by asking if Rodgers finds himself going back to Doubs more now because he believes in his potential as opposed to his track record of not going to rookie receivers like Davante Adams in the past.
His response wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. Rodgers said that he will keep going to Doubs, but because he will be “out there” more often than not, so he has no other choice. “He runs some routes better than others. He’s learning.” He’d go on to praise Doubs later, but these being the first words out of his mouth don’t suggest a quarterback who is necessarily enthralled with his pass-catching options.
Despite the cryptic review, Rodgers had good things to say about Doubs and Christian Watson. Rodgers praised Doubs for checking into the play that became the touchdown on the back-shoulder fade, something Rodgers said Doubs picked up in training camp that offseason. Attention to detail doesn’t go unnoticed in a Rodgers-led offense, so it speaks volumes to Doubs’ development that he is picking up the intricacies of his QB play.
It was while talking about Doubs that Rodgers brought up Watson unprompted. “I think both guys can be dudes,” was the exact line (18:44). Dawgs. Rodgers later praised Watson’s speed and ability to get open while comparing him to Adams in his early career. He admitted that Adams was a better route runner, but considering who Adams is as a player, that is high praise.
Despite some nice compliments, the quote above from Rodgers in no way suggests he is suddenly smitten with Doubs and Watson as his primary options. It would appear that Rodgers still doesn’t fully trust them. It may be a minute before he does, though who knows if he will stick around to see the fruits of that development.
Perhaps the most telling nugget of information from the McAfee interview comes at the 11:35-ish mark. McAfee asks Rodgers about Randall Cobb and how he’s been doing this year. Rodgers lobbied for Cobb to receive more playing time, despite his primary role being a mentor for the young receivers. It is fueling the conspiratorial fires that Rodgers strongly prefers to throw to his buddies over the rookie WRs.
Some key plays in the first few week support this theory, though the stats paint a clearer picture of how Rodgers is distributing the ball.
Not including Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, when Allen Lazard didn’t play, Doubs has 19 targets in the last three weeks. That’s two more than Lazard, who has 17. The jury is still out on Watson, who also missed some time. But he has 10 targets on the season to go along with two carries, one for a touchdown last week. For reference, the other Rodgers favorites, Cobb and Tonyan, have 12 and 16 targets, respectively.
From now on, this means that despite the circumstances that Rodgers may not necessarily prefer, he will be getting the rookies involved. The team doesn’t have any other options. It may even be good to push Rodgers out of his shell a little bit in terms of target distribution. As the season wears on, the rookies will gain confidence and take on more of the load, which should help keep the injury-prone vets like Lazard and Cobb healthy for the stretch run. If Green Bay has any hope of making noise in the playoffs this year, they will need to rely on these rookies to learn quickly before it’s too late.
