Green Bay Packers: Don’t forget about Trevor Davis

After being sidelined with an injury, Green Bay Packers’ wide receiver Trevor Davis reminded us that we shouldn’t forget about him.

Even before offseason programs began, we knew that the battle for the last few spots on the Green Bay Packers’ depth chart at wide receiver was going to be a highly contested one. As a result, fourth-year receiver Trevor Davis found himself on the roster bubble.

Due to injuries and not seeing much playing time under former head coach Mike McCarthy, Davis’ first three years in Green Bay were quite underwhelming. However, a coaching change has given him a fresh start and Matt LaFleur is someone who will better utilize Davis’ abilities on offense.

Right out of the gates at OTAs, Davis stood out and was making plays in the receiving game, not just on special teams. Yet there were still question marks surrounding Davis as Training Camp began and many wondered if he would continue to be effective once the pads were on.

Well, as we all know he was able to carry that momentum into Camp where he was a standout player in a number of practices as well as during the Family Night scrimmage and received some high praise from coach LaFleur via Jason Wilde at Madison.com:

"“A guy that may have been forgotten a little bit is Trevor Davis,” LaFleur said. “He made a lot of great plays down the field. He has speed. That’s one thing I love about our group is our guys can run. Anytime you have a group of receivers who can run, you have a chance. I’ve been really impressed with him. I feel like he’s come a long way. The effort and the intensity level with which he practices has certainly improved.”"

Unfortunately for Davis and the Green Bay Packers, an injury during their scrimmage with the Houston Texans would sideline him for a couple of weeks. That coupled with the emergence of Darrius Shepherd, Jake Kumerow, and Allen Lazard made it easy to forget about how good Davis had been when he was on the field.

As the competition at the receiver position was heating up, Davis was stuck on the sidelines which left many discussing if he’d even make the final 53-man roster. Once Davis was healthy, he was going to need a strong performance over the final weeks to get his name back into the wide receiver conversation and boy did he do just that against the Oakland Raiders on Thursday night.

In the first half alone, Davis would finish with 101 all-purpose yards including a 17 yard punt return, an 18 yard run on a jet sweep, a diving catch on the sidelines, as well as a leaping touchdown reception.

Davis picked up right where he left off prior to his injury and if there was any question on whether or not he would make the final roster, he eliminated any doubt.

Contrary to what many think, Davis has been a dynamic return man for the Green Bay Packers. During his last healthy season in 2017, he would finish third in the league in yards per punt return with 12.0 and seventh in average yards per kick return with 22.8.

Now, that he has a coach that will better utilize his skill set, Davis can make an impact on offense as well. His speed and agility is an ideal scheme fit for LaFleur’s offense as it will allow him to use Davis on trick plays – like we saw with the jet sweep – and attack the defense downfield, which is an important part of the offense and is something we also saw against Oakland.

Based on what we have seen so far, it also appears that Davis’ route running has improved as well. He looks much more crisp in the nuanced routes that he’s asked to run which is going to lead to more opportunities in this offense other than just relying on his speed as a deep threat.

While many had written Davis off even before offseason programs began, he has proven the doubters wrong and has looked fantastic so far. On both special teams and on offense, Davis is in a position to make a real impact this season and I’m expecting him to play a much bigger role than he has in previous years.