Green Bay Packers: Second-Year Player Performance Grades
By Kenny Jilek
When players hit their second year in the NFL, they have more experience and shouldn’t be making rookie mistakes, so let’s see how the Green Bay Packers’ second-year guys have been progressing this season.
Very few rookies come in on day one and become high-level starters in the NFL. The adjustment to the strength, speed, and skill of the next level after playing college football is simply too much for most guys to overcome right away. In their second year, however, they’ve had time to get used to the pro game and settle into a role. The Green Bay Packers have had a few guys make that jump nicely, and others have fallen flat.
There are three guys that are on the active roster this season that were practice squad guys last year, Malik Taylor, Randy Ramsey, and Yosh Nijman. Malik Taylor has made the biggest contribution to the team this season, making five catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. Ramsey has seen mostly special teams action, playing 43 percent of those snaps and making seven total tackles, while also playing 59 total defensive snaps. Nijman hasn’t seen the field at all this season, as the 6’7″ 314-pound behemoth continues to be a developmental project for Green Bay.
Dexter Williams is the one guy from the 2019 draft class not currently on the active roster. He’s currently on injured reserve and even when healthy was very low on the running back totem pole. The only time he touched the ball was when he got two carries against the 49ers when Jamaal Williams and A.J. Dillon were both out.
The final guy to talk about before getting into the seven guys drafted in 2019 is Allen Lazard. Now, technically, Lazard is in his third year in the league, but he was on the practice squad for most of 2018 and made one catch for seven yards that season, which no one remembers.
Lazard was having a very promising start to the 2020 season before getting injured. In his first three games, he made 13 catches for 254 yards, averaging 84.7 catches per game. In these games, he looked like a true number two receiver and showed that maybe the Packers didn’t need to draft someone new to make a difference in the passing game. Since returning, he hasn’t been as incorporated in the offense as he was early and has only gone over 25 yards receiving once in four weeks. Hopefully, that changes in the weeks to come, and he’s able to find his niche again.
Even though he has been less of a factor, he’s still a fixture on third down and a guy that Rodgers looks for because he is so reliable. Out of his 24 catches this season, 17 of them have gone for first downs. The verdict of his season will be shown in the weeks to come and in the playoffs, but for now, I’ll give him an incomplete for his grade.
Now, let’s get into the seven players drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 2019 draft, starting with their two first-rounders.