The Green Bay Packers are entering a new era under Jordan Love, and the team is committed to the youth movement.
Along with Aaron Rodgers‘ departure, most of his favorite targets, including Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Robert Tonyan, and Marcedes Lewis, will also play for new teams in 2023. Green Bay hasn’t brought in any veteran pass catchers, and it’s looking unlikely that they will. That means the Packers will rely on a young, mostly untested group of receiving threats this season.
And that’s likely a good thing. With the team entering a new era and no longer being a perennial Super Bowl favorite, it makes sense to let the group develop alongside the new quarterback. Letting the young guys play seems to be the right call this season.
Green Bay selected six wide receivers in the past two drafts: Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Samori Toure in 2022; and Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Grant DuBose this year. Add rookie tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tyler Kraft into the mix and that’s a lot of promising young talent to explore.
Jordan Love has started in one game and played significant snaps in two others. He really hasn’t had the time or opportunity to develop favorite targets or to be the leader in the room. There’s going to be a ton of trial and error as Love works with his new weapons, and every snap is valuable. It’s better to let the young receivers sink or swim with Love than crowd the room with a veteran.
Having a veteran already familiar with the offense might be a different story. Rodgers inherited some good options as a first-time starter, and that surely helped his development. But as much as we like to use the “time is a flat circle” narrative about the QB change, the circumstances are much different.
The 2023 Packers aren’t a cap-flush team, and there weren’t great, proven pass catchers already signed. Lazard would have been valuable, but Green Bay wasn’t in a position to pay him the big contract the New York Jets did. All of the other main weapons from the 2022 season were either rookies or veterans on short-term deals.
Rodgers was also always going to retain most of his entourage with his new team. Cobb would have been a great mentor and a reliable weapon for Love. But he was on a short-term deal, and it always appeared his fate was going to be tied with Rodgers’ at this point of his career. Lazard signing with the Jets always seemed to be the heralding of Rodgers’ arrival.
So for the Packers to have experienced weapons on the team, they’d need to find one in free agency. But that already has two main flaws: price and knowledge of Green Bay’s offense. A truly impactful free agent would have cost money they simply don’t have. And that veteran would have needed to learn the playbook in the same way the rookies would. They might have a better grasp on familiar concepts and how to adjust to a new offense, but they’d still be taking time and snaps building chemistry with Love that would be better spent on their chosen guys.
And is there really anyone available that would be a game-changer? The only options left at this point are aging stars or guys that haven’t made an impact on their recent teams. It’s better for Green Bay to bet on the ceiling of the guys they drafted.
Marcedes Lewis is only veteran I would have considered a “must-sign.” Lewis was an invaluable mentor for a position notoriously difficult to translate from the college level to the pros. Lewis is one of the most experienced tight ends to ever play the game and has been one of the team’s most venerable leaders since he arrived in Green Bay. Robert Tonyan raved about his mentorship on multiple occasions. And Lewis likely wouldn’t have taken away too many snaps from Kraft or Musgrave. Green Bay looks poised for a ton of 12 personnel in 2023, allowing one of the two to still be on the field while Lewis basically provides a sixth offensive lineman.
But while it looks like he won’t follow Rodgers to the Jets thanks to a dislike of the taxes in New York, he won’t be returning to Green Bay either, according to a Sunday report from Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber.
So well a veteran could have been valuable to teach the young guys how to practice and study the playbook, Green Bay will trust in their young guys and let them be the stars of the show. The Packers drafted these young wide receivers and tight ends to be the future stars and leaders of this team. They’ll get thrown into the fire a bit quicker than is typical, but this is how the Packers prefer to operate. They’ve always been a draft-and-develop team. While that approach doesn’t always work, it’s produced some great results.
Things might change if injuries occur or the young pass catchers truly struggle, but the best move at this point is to let Love and his young weapons develop together. Let them find what works and what doesn’t and let Love find his go-to guys. It may be frustrating to watch at times thanks to growing pains, but it’s the best move for the future of the franchise.
