Coming into 2024, the Green Bay Packers were touted as having one of the league’s top young receiving corps. However, they haven’t had a true No. 1 since No. 17 departed three seasons ago. Instead, a group of role players have filled the void, from speedster Jayden Reed to contested-catch guy Romeo Doubs.
Dontayvion Wicks fit somewhere in the middle. His role grew throughout his rookie campaign as he repeatedly made plays when the Packers threw his way. However, as the season grew near, Wicks was caught in a logjam among Reed, Doubs, and Christian Watson. Throughout the offseason, fans in the fantasy and betting spaces struggled to pinpoint what Green Bay’s receiving room would look like. Because they all had the potential to become Jordan Love’s top target, people drafted all of them relatively high, particularly in best-ball formats.
Wicks was the odd man out on the depth chart. Still, many prominent media voices went all-in on the second-year wideout from Virginia, pointing to the excellence he put on tape in 2023. Furthermore, his ceiling would become limitless if one of Green Bay’s starting receivers came off the field for whatever reason. After Week 4’s wild, nauseating loss to the division rival Minnesota Vikings, that’s exactly what has happened. Watson departed early in the game with a high ankle sprain. He will likely miss Sunday’s contest in Los Angeles, and his status for the subsequent weeks is also uncertain.
Insert Wicks. After starting the game down 28-0, the Packers entered a deep-negative game script for nearly the entire afternoon, leading Love to air the ball out an astounding 54 times. A team-high 13 of those went in Wicks’ direction. He hauled in five catches for 78 yards and two scores. The low conversion rate from targets to receptions represented a rare sloppiness completely absent from Wicks’ game in 2023. He had multiple drops or, at the very least, failed to make important plays when the Packers called upon him.
Still, we shouldn’t dismiss the gargantuan target share. Wicks’ route running and ability to find the weak spots in zones have made him a top target. With Watson down for the foreseeable future, it’s time to find out what Wicks can do with an extended opportunity.
Reed is the primary threat to his usage. Reed made an electric jump to start his sophomore season. He often got fewer than five touches in a game last year, but he always made them count. He thrived in unique situations designed by head coach Matt LaFleur, from end arounds to take advantage of his lateral quickness to straight verticals down the seam. Reed is incontrovertibly the most potent weapon in Love and LaFleur’s arsenal. That leaves Wicks an opening to emerge as Love’s go-to chain-mover. We could get an extended look at the Wicks-Reed duo on Sunday, as Doubs’ status is also up in the air due to a personal matter. If he’s not able to go, Bo Melton and Malik Heath will assume greater rotational roles.
The opportunity that Wicks’ fantasy owners and bettors alike had forecasted has arrived. The table is set for the second-year wideout to flash his potential in a well-developed system with a reliable quarterback. It’s hard to expect more 13 targets again — that was more a fluke of circumstance — but there is plenty more room beneath the ceiling of the role Wicks is preparing to slot into.
From touchdowns down the seam in the middle of January to 65-yard bombs in mid-August preseason action, Green Bay has been given a tantalizing taste of what their 2023 fifth-rounder can do. Now he can extrapolate those flashes into consistent, game-long production. On Sunday, he will draw the Rams’ struggling secondary, which has overseen the failed comeback of former top corner Tre’Davious White. As a result, Jameson Williams, Marvin Harrison Jr, and Jauan Jennings have put up cataclysmic statlines at their expense. At SoFi Stadium, Dontayvion Wicks will attempt to join that list and lay the groundwork for his breakout season.
