Green Bay Packers: What does new WR Darrell Stewart bring?

The Green Bay Packers finally got a wide receiver out of the draft process, signing undrafted free agent Darrell Stewart.

At Michigan State, Darrell Stewart was a jack of all trades, but master of none, and that’s how he projects in the NFL and for the Green Bay Packers. Some of his skills include returning kicks, taking jet sweeps and end arounds, throwing the ball, climbing the ladder to get a jump ball, and running after the catch. He did all of those with some success but he didn’t do any of them extremely well.

As a kick returner, he’s not a game-breaker and he didn’t take a kick to the house in any of his 23 returns at Michigan State. However, he is serviceable back there and would give the Packers another option in that department. Here is my favorite kick return of his which includes a nasty truck move.

That move and run after bring me to his elusiveness and strength after the catch. He doesn’t quite have the joystick quickness that others in this draft possess and his acceleration once he does break a tackle leaves something to be desired, but he has a great combination of size and elusiveness that help him break the first tackle. He’ll almost always get at least a few extra yards after the catch, and occasionally breaks one for big yards, but he isn’t going to take a three-step hitch 90 yards for a touchdown.

At Michigan State, he was used mostly in the slot but he played outside when they went to a jumbo set with only one or two wide receivers on the field. When he played outside, he wasn’t great at creating separation on his routes, but he was a big matchup problem for safeties when he played in the slot. He has enough speed and quickness to beat guys on speed outs, but not usually enough to beat a cornerback. He didn’t flat-out beat corners much, but he did use his 6’2″ 216-pound frame to make some nice contested catches and a few for touchdowns on goal-line fades.

Another thing that Stewart did well a few times at Michigan State that may endear him to Aaron Rodgers is making plays in the scramble drill. When the play broke down, Stewart was great at finding space and drifting away from zone defenders to make himself available to his desperate quarterback. Rodgers has always been historically great at this, connecting with numerous receivers in broken plays, most notably Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb. I’m not comparing Stewart to those guys, but if he can show that ability early in camp, it would go a long way in making the roster.

Stewart can also be a great gadget piece for the Green Bay Packers. For starters, he had 28 rushing attempts on plays like end arounds and jet sweeps and he may have even had more of those plays that counted as passes if the quarterback flipped the ball forward to him.

Again, he doesn’t have elite speed, but reads blocks well and can break a tackle to make a good gain. He also threw the ball twice in college off of plays similar to the Philly Special. One was for a four-yard touchdown in his junior year, and another was a 17-yard completion. He finished his collegiate career with a passer rating of 353.2. The NFL max is 158.3, but the college passer rating is calculated differently.

Unfortunately, Stewart does have an injury concern, as he missed four games after a leg injury in the Penn State game. However, he did come back in a limited capacity for their bowl game against Wake Forest in which he made two catches for three yards.

Even with that injury, Stewart was by far Michigan State’s leading receiver and still managed to make 49 catches for 697 yards with four touchdowns in only nine games including the lackluster bowl game.

Finally, he shows promise as a hustle player. Matt LaFleur raved about third-round pick Josiah Deguara and his hustle play against UCLA to save a pick-six. Stewart made a similar play in his junior year against Maryland. He didn’t have to run as far, but right as the Maryland player was about to cross the goal line he stripped the ball and it was recovered by Michigan State, resulting in a touchback and new life for his offense. It was voted Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage right play of the week.

Darrell Stewart is a solid undrafted free agent signing at wide receiver that adds to the depth of this young wide receiver room, as well as an element of speed and yards after catch ability that many of the bigger receivers don’t give them. He has plenty of versatility and with the Green Bay Packers still not really having a true slot receiver, he could compete for that spot in camp using his size, speed, and hustle.