Green Bay Packers: More Targets Needed for Lazard & Kumerow

With the Green Bay Packers’ offense still struggling to find consistency, it is time for Allen Lazard and Jake Kumerow to get more targets.

The Green Bay Packers are sitting pretty at 11-3 on the season, however, there are valid concerns surrounding the overall effectiveness of this offense – particularly in the passing game. One drive they’ll look like they can beat any defense in the NFL, then the following series they look completely lost. As always there are a number of contributors to these inconsistencies, but one that stands out has been the lack of regular production from wide receivers not named Davante Adams.

Entering the season it was thought by many that the Green Bay Packers’ No.2 receiver would be either Geronimo Allison or Marquez Valdes-Scantling, but neither have performed even close to that level. Allison has had issues with dropped passes, and averages just 8.7 yards per catch with 5.5 yards per target, which is near the bottom of the NFL. Meanwhile, Valdes-Scantling has steadily seen his snap count decrease, including just seven against Chicago after misplaying what should have been a 70 yard touchdown pass. And even if we exclude that game, he’s still been ineffective with just two catches on 11 targets for 11 yards over the last seven games.

While the Green Bay Packers have clinched a playoff spot there is still a lot left to play for, including the NFC North title, the No. 2 seed in the NFC, and hopefully we see a postseason run. It’s now down to crunch time, and Matt LaFleur has given Allison and Valdes-Scantling ample opportunities to right the ship, but now it is time for Allen Lazard and Jake Kumerow to start seeing more targets.

I’m not even sure why it’s taken this long, but we finally saw Lazard take more offensive snaps than Allison in week 15 against Chicago. This should have happened sooner because since the Detroit game, Lazard has been Aaron Rodgers’ second favorite target. During that span he’s caught 74 percent of his 35 targets at nearly 14 yards per catch with two touchdowns. And perhaps most importantly, he has the trust of Rodgers and has become one of his favorite third down targets.

Then we have Kumerow who is still fighting to see the field with any regularity as he has averaged just 13 snaps over the Green Bay Packers’ last five games despite being one of their more explosive receivers, albeit with a small sample size. Kumerow has just 18 targets this season but has hauled in 11 of them and is averaging 19.3 yards per catch with 11.8 yards per target, both of which lead the team. He also has a touchdown and Rodgers has a passer rating of 127.6 when targeting him. Like I said, it’s a small sample size but you can’t deny his effectiveness.

As we move forward into the final weeks of the regular season as well as into the playoffs, it appears that Lazard and Kumerow’s playing time is trending in the right direction. As I mentioned previously, Lazard saw more snaps than Allison against the Bears, while in a press conference earlier this week, LaFleur acknowledged that they need to get Kumerow on the field more.

While more snaps is certainly a step in the right direction, the other half of that battle is getting these two receivers more targets. Since the Packers played Detroit – when Lazard started seeing the field – Rodgers has averaged nearly 33 pass attempts per game during that span and just over five of them on a per game basis are going to either Lazard or Kumerow. Far too few given what we’ve seen from them, if you ask me.

Lazard has shown that he can be a reliable target, while both he and Kumerow have shown that big playmaking ability. Which at the moment this Green Bay Packers’ offense could really use, so now it is time to give each of these receivers the targets that they’ve earned.