The Packers Now Have The Cheapest WR Room In The NFL
Are the Packers doing enough for Jordan Love?
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A few days ago I was scrolling through twitter and came across an interesting tweet showing the list of the most expensive WR rooms in the NFL to the least expensive WR rooms in the NFL.
The Packers are dead last paying their receiver room a measly $5.5 million.
To put it into perspective the Rams have the most expensive room at $51.9 million. About 10x more than the Packers. The middle ground is the Steelers at 16th paying out $25.9 million. The Packers moved on from Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb which is money spent in 2022 that won’t be spent in 2023.
The reason the Packers WR room is so cheap is because it is currently only made up of mainly players on rookie contracts. Here are the current WRs on the Packers roster and their cap hit in 2023.
As you can see the Packers have some work to do in the wide receiver room. We have 5 incredibly young players. I honestly didn’t even remember that Jeff Cotton was on the roster. He was a 2020 undrafted free agent who initially signed with the Chargers. The Packers signed him to their practice squad in November of 2022 and signed him to a futures contract in January. Bo Melton was drafted by the Seahawks in the 7th round of last year's draft.
So right now Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs are the foundation of the WR room. Watson showed that he can compete with the best of the best. I’m not worried about him at all. He will stretch defenses vertically because you have to account for his speed. Recently Matt Lafleur said Romeo Doubs reminds him of Davante Adams because of his route running ability. Yeehaw. Romeo is going to be a beast.
I already think Watson and Doubs are more talented than a guy like Allen Lazard for instance. I believe both guys will produce more when it’s all said and done. Lazard’s new contract with the Jets is $11 million per year. So even though the Packers WR room is the cheapest,it doesn’t mean it’s the least talented.
Now do I think that we have enough currently to give Jordan Love the best chance to succeed?
No. This room needs more bodies and it’s not a matter of it it will happen but when. The draft in in less than a month and I would be shocked if the Packers didn’t come out of it with at least 2 new pass catchers. I also assume a veteran WR will be added sometime soon.
Here’s what Matt Lafleur recently said about what needs to happen with the WR room:
“We’re going to have to add some bodies to that room” He also added, “Well, I think some veteran leadership would be nice.”
I give it a 93% chance the Packers add a veteran WR.
We are getting to that point of the off-season where most of the bigger name WRs have already signed with new teams. The guys that are remaining will be able to be signed at very reasonable cheap prices. One thing Brian Gutekunst has loved to do over the years is sign guys in May or June. Players who may be overlooked but have the chance of making a big impact on the team.
I was thinking recently after all the years of talk about the Packers not wanting to give Aaron Rodgers new weapons, how ironic would it be if before Jordan Love’s first year starting he drafts him a WR in the first round?
You can already imagine the talk on sports media the day after the draft. Now it may look like a slap in the face to Aaron Rodgers but I don’t think that’s what it will be.
If the Packers love a WR and think that round 1 is the time to take him, I'm all for it. The media will go on about how they never helped Aaron Rodgers and will try to paint Brian Gutekunst as the bad guy but I think he deserves much more credit then people give him. The Packers have been consistently competitive and fielded great teams for years.
And to be honest I’m not here to take Aaron Rodgers or Brian Gutekunst’s side. I like both of them and want to see both of them succeed. There may be some rifts between those guys but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.
All I’m rooting for is for the Packers to field the most competitive offense they can in 2023 as they also build for the future. It may take a couple years for this offense to get to the highest level and that’s okay. If Brian Gutekunst drafts a few more weapons there will be a solid base of young WRs who can develop and grow alongside Jordan Love.
I honestly think this offense will be much better than many people expect.
Last year the Packers Oline had the 3rd best pass blocking grade according to PFF and all of those guys will be back next year. We still have one of the best backfields in the NFL with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Jordan Love showed in the game vs the Eagles that he can run Matt Lafleur's offense. Of course it was a small sample size and he’ll have to do it consistently over the course of the season but I believe he can.
I’m excited to see what this team can be and I can’t wait to see what Jordan can do. The Packers will do enough this off-season to get Jordan Love the help he needs.
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