Is Tight End a Position of Concern for the Green Bay Packers?

Last year at this time, there seemed to be a lot more excitement around the tight end position on this Green Bay Packers team.

Marcedes Lewis had been re-signed, Robert Tonyan was coming off an 11 touchdown season, Josiah Deguara was returning from an ACL injury, and we caught a few glimpses of Dominique Dafney in 2020.

However, going into the 2022 season, even with the same players still on the Green Bay Packers, the outlook of the position appears to be drawing some concerns.

To a degree, I can understand why. Perhaps without Davante Adams and having to rely more on the position to provide a pass-catching presence could be worrisome. Tonyan is also coming off an ACL injury, Lewis just turned 38-years-old, and Deguara had a very up and down 2021 season.

Certainly, all are valid concerns, but from my perspective, I am very comfortable with the makeup of this position group.

Sure, Lewis is up there in age, but he has been for the last few seasons, yet he continues to play at a high level with little to no signs of him slowing down. By PFF’s grading system, Lewis ranked 10th among all tight ends in pass-blocking last season and eighth in run-blocking.

And while the sample sizes for Deguara, Dafney, and Davis are much smaller, all three were effective blockers as well, with Deguara and Davis finishing tied for 17th in PFF’s run-blocking grade while Dafney was sixth.

As far as pass-catching goes, the return of Tonyan will provide a huge boost to this Green Bay Packers offense, even if he isn’t coming down with 11 touchdowns.

With Tonyan out last season, his presence over the middle, down the seam, and in the red zone was missed. Just him being on the field can open up the passing game for others with the attention that he draws. And although step one will be Tonyan getting healthy, most players come back from ACL injuries just fine. What the Packers experienced with David Bakhtiari was very much an unusual situation.

Meanwhile, Deguara took his lumps but oftentimes, it isn’t until the second or even third seasons that we see tight ends truly begin gaining momentum and taking that big step forward.

Between having to know how to run routes like a receiver and blocking technique like a lineman–not to mention that Deguara is more of an H-back, which comes with other responsibilities in what is a fairly nuanced Matt LaFleur offense, time is needed.

The reality is that the ups and downs, and the learning curve that Deguara experienced in 2021 were very normal–and I do expect him to continue progressing this season. Dafney also provides Green Bay with a good backup option in this H-back role.

When it comes to Davis, he was simply not on the radar of many Green Bay Packers fans until recently, when Brian Gutekunst, Matt LaFleur, and Rich Bisaccia all spoke very highly of him.

"“TD — Tyler Davis — we picked up early in the year, and as his opportunities grew not only in the games but in practice, think we really have something there,” said Gutey via Packers.com. “So I’m excited about that.”"

As we saw briefly last season, Davis is a very willing and capable blocker, and he also made a nice 22-yard catch down the seam in coverage against Baltimore as Aaron Rodgers was under pressure.

Now, a concern that I do have is that Tonyan is really the only true-pass catching threat that this offense has at the position–that is unless Davis can potentially emerge and provide a second option. I just discussed how much the Packers missed Tonyan last season, and the reason why is because no other tight end could fill his role.

With that said, as a healthy unit, I feel very comfortable with this group. And as I wrote recently, with the possible emergence of Davis, LaFleur and Co. could have to decide between keeping four tight ends on this roster or going with five. But again, that potential decision speaks to the depth of this tight end room.