The Green Bay Packers added to their collection of offensive weapons through the draft, taking Matthew Golden in the first round and Savion Williams in the third.
Soon, training camp will begin, and head coach and offensive guru Matt LaFleur can start experimenting with all the different looks and options the Packers can throw at an opposing defense. Let’s examine three looks Green Bay should flirt with throwing out on the field for a regular-season game.
The endless opportunities look
The Packers could carry as many as seven wide receivers. If they wanted to make a case for eight, it would make sense — even if it would drastically thin out depth elsewhere on the roster. Green Bay took a decent wide receiver room in 2024 and tossed in Golden, Williams, and veteran Mecole Hardman this offseason.
For this concept, the Packers come out in an empty set with Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Golden, Williams, and Hardman.
It quickly shifts to a three-wide-receiver look when Love calls for Reed and Williams to join him in the backfield.
Williams had 51 rushes for 322 yards and six touchdowns in his final season at TCU. Many of those touches came while running the “Frog Package,” where Williams would line up at running back and quarterback.
He’s a wide receiver by label, but Williams is more than comfortable lining up in the backfield and getting the ball in various ways. We’ve already seen the Packers use Reed in several different ways under head coach Matt LaFleur, including plenty of pre-snap motion.
For this look, one of Reed or Williams is positioned to the left of Love, who is in shotgun, and the other is to his right. Meanwhile, you could have Golden lined up on the outside with Hardman in the slot next to him. Doubs is a reliable target for Love, and they’d line him up on the boundary on the other side.
The possibilities created by this are vast and include keeping it simple by just handing the ball to Williams or Reed. That look would keep defenses guessing on an endless loop.
The “speed kills” look
The Packers should try this once Christian Watson returns from his ACL injury, the timeline for which has yet to be determined.
For this look, the Packers line up two tight ends with Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. At wide receiver, Golden, Watson, and Reed.
Line the trio of receivers up anyway you want. This look is designed to cut them loose down the field, with the idea that at least one will be able to get past their man or beat zone coverage.
Kraft and Musgrave are in to provide blocking and time for Love. Perhaps Musgrave, with his ability as a vertical threat, can release out on a route after initially sealing up his blocking assignment.
Love led the league in completions of 20-plus air yards with 24 last year. Joe Burrow was second with 20.
LaFleur’s offense affords those opportunities, and Love converted them at a solid clip in 2024. Love’s excellence in this category is all the more impressive when you remember that he missed two full games and half of two others.
Of those league-leading 24 completions that traveled 20-plus yards in the air, eight went to Reed and five went to Watson. Choosing them for this “speed kills” look was intentional.
Now put Golden out there alongside that duo. Good luck, opposing defenses.
Reed has had trouble dealing with man coverage consistently, but he may find more success in a look like this, where eyes will be fixed on all the other killer options on the field for the Packers.
Are they doing what we think they’re doing?
Teams have presented this one in various ways, and we’ll add a twist.
The “Frog Package” that Williams ran at TCU truly turned him into a jack-of-all-trades type of prospect. For our specific look, we have Williams lined up at quarterback in the shotgun, running back Josh Jacobs on one side of Williams and running back MarShawn Lloyd on the other. Love lines up on the boundary at wide receiver, while Golden is on the other side with Dontayvion Wicks.
Defenses will guess run, but having Love out there at least threatens the idea of a double pass. Williams could hand off to Jacobs or Golden, or he could run a read option and opt to carry it himself. Green Bay could send Golden in motion and give the appearance of a jet touch pass or go through with that plan.
The defense will guess run, and that would be the call in all likelihood. But the defense must decipher what kind of run call is being made and who is getting the pigskin — and they must do so quickly.
The additions Green Bay made at wide receiver and the versatility they possess give them even more options entering 2025 with the offense. With an offensive guru like LaFleur masterminding the scheme, they should be deadly.