There have been plenty of questions about what the roles will look like for the Packers receivers.
The easy answer is that it doesn’t matter!
The Packers drafted Matthew Golden with the 23rd overall in the NFL Draft last month. The reason why it was such a landmark decision was because there have only been four wideouts the Packers have taken in the first round. James Lofton in 1978, Sterling Sharpe in 1988, Javon Walker in 2002 and Golden in 2025.
That says two things: 1. The Packers have been historically good at developing wide receivers. The best example of that is Donald Driver who turned the tables by being a seventh round draft pick in 1999 to being one of the best wideouts in Packers history. 2. It really doesn’t value the wide receiver position. From 1995-2017, there were nine different receivers that led the team in receiving yards. That includes Robert Brooks, Bill Schroeder and Randall Cobb.
There has been talk that Golden will be the team’s No. 1 receiver, because you don’t take a receiver in the first round to not let him be the focal point of the passing game.
But that’s the beauty of the Packers offense. There doesn’t have to be a focal point. Josh Jacobs can seemingly run through brick walls and Tucker Kraft can somehow turn nothing into something. But this offense is multifaceted. It has so many ways to beat a defense.
And let’s not forget Jayden Reed, who in my opinion was the team’s most formidable weapon last year and a reason why they should not have picked a receiver first. Reed racked up 410 yards after the catch last year and a contested catch percentage of 69.2.
The Packers are not built like they were when Davante Adams was here. Adams deserved to get the ball many times a game because he was clearly more athletic than everyone else on the football field.
So let people be concerned about the Packers No. 1 receiver. It will make for interesting fodder during training camp and each wideout dazzles the crowd with electrifying catches.
The Packers don’t need to identify who their top target is. The Packers just need to keep stacking wins. The Packers are the microcosm of playing team ball and it all starts with the deep pool of Packers wideouts.
“We love his versatility?,” said LaFleur. “He can play inside, outside, return punts — that’s the kind of flexibility we value.”
LaFleur is the perfect coach for this situation because he is the anti-coach. He doesn’t care what people think of him. He just wants to win.
The summer will be a transformation for many football fans. It takes work to understand how to get to the playoffs. And it also takes a coach that is willing to swim upstream every now snd then.