Green Bay Packers Receiving Corps Ranked Near Bottom of NFL

A recent Bleacher Report article ranks the Green Bay Packers receiving corps as 28th in the NFL. This seems a bit low.

Many fans and NFL media members are still reeling and confused at the fact that the Green Bay Packers didn’t use one of their nine draft picks on the wide receiver position in what was a loaded draft class.

As we all know, part of the reason behind the offense’s inconsistencies last year, was a receiving corps that was simply underwhelming at times. Fortunately, we saw the emergence of Allen Lazard over the course of the season, but Geronimo Allison flat out struggled and Marquez Valdes-Scantling saw his snap count decrease as the season went on.

On top of that we saw little production from any other receiver and at the tight end position, Jimmy Graham once again just couldn’t put it together.

This led many to believe that the wide receiver position was going to be a top priority this offseason. However, that wasn’t the case. With not much cap space the Green Bay Packers would sign free agent Devin Funchess who missed almost all of 2019 with an injury. And as we’ve already talked about, they didn’t select a receiver in the draft.

So as you’d expect, many are down on the Packers’ receiving corps, especially Maurice Moton at Bleacher Report. Moton would recently rank every NFL receiving corps – including tight ends – and Green Bay came in at 28th. He would mention that although the Packers have Davante Adams, overall this is a very young group with a number of unknowns, which is why they are ranked so low.

While I can understand where Moton is coming from because there are several question marks within this unit, and by no means am I saying that they should be ranked in the top-10, but 28 is way too low. Just the fact that they have Davante Adams should have them ranked higher than 28th.

Adams has established himself as one of the top receivers in the NFL with perhaps the best release off the line of scrimmage in the game. In 2018 he would total nearly 1,400 receiving yards with 13 touchdowns and last season he fell just three yards short of another 1,000-yard season, despite playing in only 12 games.

As I said, this isn’t a top-10 unit and they probably won’t end up being a top-15 unit either, but I’m higher on this group than most since there is a lot of potential and several of these players have made some noise at the NFL level.

During the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Funchess would total 1,389 yards and 12 touchdowns. At 6’4″- 225 pounds he provides Aaron Rodgers with another big target, especially in the red zone. And I know the 2019 season didn’t end well for Valdes-Scantling but through the first seven games, he was averaging nearly 20 yards per catch on 21 receptions.

We also can’t forget about Equanimeous St. Brown who missed last season with an injury but as a rookie the year before, he would record 15.6 yards per catch with five of his 21 receptions going for at least 20 yards. St. Brown could end up being the Green Bay Packers’ big slot option in 2020.

Meanwhile at tight end, Green Bay will get an infusion of athleticism with Jace Sternberger taking over as TE1. He has the ability to line up all over the formation and will create mismatches for himself and his teammates in the passing game.

And of course, while Allen Lazard may not be as well-known of a name around the NFL at this moment, he emerged as the No. 2 receiver last season and was an uber-reliable target for Rodgers.

We also can’t forget that many offenses make a jump in Year 2 of a new system.

Sure, outside of Adams and Funchess’ 2017 season, none of the production from the other receiving targets has been sustained for an entire season. Which is why there are those question marks.

But with that said, there is also a lot of potential from these young players who have already found success in the NFL, and ranking this unit 28th out of 32 teams is really overlooking the talent that they do have.