There’s no sugarcoating it.
With Davante Adams agreeing to a deal with the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks trading DK Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the options to upgrade at wide receiver have significantly diminished.
It just so happens the Green Bay Packers are in the market for a top wideout.
The idea of an Adams reunion was floated around, but reports recently surfaced that Adams wanted to go to the West Coast. That became a reality on Sunday with the announcement of his two-year deal with the Rams.
Even though it would’ve required a trade and parting ways with some draft compensation, Metcalf seemed more realistic. Once it became public that Metcalf had requested a trade, the Packers became an immediate candidate for various reasons. Among them was Green Bay’s need for a true No. 1 wide receiver.
Instead, the Pittsburgh Steelers immediately gave Metcalf a five-year, $150 million deal.
Nobody will blame the Packers for not wanting to fork over that sort of extension for a guy who was Seattle’s second-most productive receiver last year. The compensation was a second-round pick and a flip of a later-round selection. That price wasn’t steep; the contract extension was.
What might be most frustrating was that Matt Schneidman of The Athletic reported the Packers never even made an offer for Metcalf.
Where do they go now?
Green Bay tried an idea in 2024 that circulated around a really young wide receiving corps, hoping that at least one would emerge as a bonafide star. It never happened. Injuries, a suspension, and inconsistencies turned that strategy into blind hope.
The Packers have other needs. Still, how does it make sense to give your young quarterback a big contract and not provide one wide receiver who can be the guy when the offense is in a pinch?
Putting more of the burden on Jordan Love isn’t the answer. Green Bay must find solutions that make his life easier.
Perhaps Brian Gutekunst already has a plan in place. Not even offering a deal for Metcalf would suggest that. Surely, he and the rest of the front office know that simply running it back, especially with Christian Watson set to miss a large chunk of the season, isn’t viable.
Running it back at wide receiver would border on front-office malpractice. And this isn’t meant to be a shot at the wide receiver group.
Jayden Reed looked like a No. 1 the first month of the season. However, his play dipped off massively after that. Still, his ability to play the slot and on the outside gives the Packers plenty of flexibility to keep him heavily involved. However, his play in 2024 was more unpredictable than Nico Harrison’s thought process regarding trades.
Romeo Doubs has super-reliable hands and has made some key plays in big moments. However, he isn’t trending towards becoming a bona fide WR1.
Dontayvion Wicks might be the greatest of the group’s unknowns. Drops plagued his season, and he fizzled out of favor when the group was fully healthy. His potential flashes but never shines consistently.
Watson is the wild card. Had he not suffered a torn ACL in Week 18, Gutekunst and Co. could’ve opted to try and run it back with little to no movement in the wide receiver room. That decision wouldn’t have been wise, but he could’ve made a case for it.
The Packers know they have to do something with Watson out of the equation to start the season. Considering who’s still available, taking a big swing seems almost impossible, but Green Bay might have needed to take one.
So, who could inspire even a little confidence?
The Rams already said they’d part ways with Cooper Kupp. The Adams signing makes it a foregone conclusion now. Whether it’s by trade or by release, Kupp won’t be back with the Rams.
When he’s on the field, he’s as reliable as it gets. However, Kupp will be 32 in June and has missed 18 games in the last three seasons.
Chris Godwin would have been a similar signing, in terms of high-risk, high-reward additions, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers re-signed him on Monday morning, leaving Kupp as one of the vanishingly few WR1 options remaining in free agency.
Green Bay has found itself in quite the pickle. Even if they won’t admit the need for an alpha in the wide receiver room, they must add some substance. The top options are now wiped off the board. The remaining free agents at wide receiver don’t inspire a lot of excitement or have a history of tremendous production. Drafting a wide receiver adds another young unknown to a room littered with just that.
Hopefully, Gutekunst has a wilier plan because the obvious paths to improvement have narrowed fast.
