Sammy Watkins among Packers not playing v. 49ers but starting OL will

Following Wednesday’s practice, a group of players met at midfield with coach Matt LaFleur. What was discussed, we don’t know, but the assumption made by several of the beat reporters is that this group of veterans won’t be suiting up during the Green Bay Packers first preseason game.

Included in that group was wide receiver Sammy Watkins–which tells us he is in all likelihood a lock to make this Packers roster.

Since the Packers signed Watkins, I’ve been under the assumption that he was going to be on this team. This is a young Green Bay wide receiver room, and as Aaron Rodgers told reporters, he prefers production to potential, which Watkins brings, despite also battling injuries throughout his career.

However, I have to admit; after the first two weeks of training camp practices, while I still expected Watkins to be on the 53-man roster in a few weeks, I also wasn’t as confident as I once was.

Andy Herman of Packer Report would mention that Watkins has had a “very quiet start to training camp.”

In addition to that, we’ve once again seen the emergence of Juwann Winfree along with rookie Romeo Doubs–two receivers who could potentially take those same boundary snaps as Watkins.

Also, Amari Rodgers isn’t going anywhere, and it was fair to wonder — I certainly have — if the Packers will actually roster seven receivers, something they haven’t done previously under Matt LaFleur. With the tight ends and running backs being active participants in the passing game, there likely aren’t a ton of targets to go around for a seventh wide receiver.

The structure of Watkins’ contract is also very easy for the Packers to get out of because it is so incentive-heavy. In fact, if Green Bay were to cut him, they would save $1.422 million in cap space for the 2022 season, according to Over the Cap.

However, all of that seems to be a moot point at this time. If the Packers were truly on the fence about whether or not to keep Watkins for the upcoming season, I imagine they would want to get a look at him in the preseason.

Andy Herman would note that the other players in the post-practice huddle with Watkins included AJ Dillon, Aaron Jones, Kenny Clark, De’Vondre Campbell, Eric Stokes, Dean Lowry, Jarran Reed, Marcedes Lewis, Adrian Amos, Jaire Alexander, Randall Cobb, Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, Aaron Rodgers, and Allen Lazard.

LaFleur would tell reporters, however, that the starting offensive line at the moment, which is made up of Yosh Nijman, Jon Runyan, Josh Myers, Jake Hanson, and Royce Newman, would be playing with Jordan Love at quarterback.

This unit, in particular, has taken its lumps over the first two weeks of practice. Overall, I believe that this group can be fine this year and hold their own–I mean, they did a season ago while battling numerous injuries.

But for this Packers team to reach the Super Bowl — which is the goal — this offense needs more than fine play from the offensive line. The run game has to be more effective, and Rodgers needs more time than what he had in 2021.

For what it’s worth, GM Brian Gutekunst did sound hopeful that both Elgton Jenkins and David Bakhtiari could be ready for the Packers’ Week 1 matchup with Minnesota.