The next man up attitude is cliche and a little boring, but when it comes to the Packers, it really rings true.
Christian Watson will likely be out until October nursing a torn ACL and now Jayden Reed will be out 6-8 weeks with a broken collarbone that he suffered against Washington.
That opens the door for Dontayvion Wicks. Plenty of people called the 6-foot-1, 206-pound athletic wideout “Alligator Arms” last year after having a drop rate of 20.4 percent after tallying six drops. His body language wasn’t good as he often had his head down trying to figure out what was happening.
However that has not carried over into this season as he has six catches on eight targets for 74 yards. Most importantly, the fifth round wideout from Virginia has zero drops.
Wicks is only averaging 34 yards a game, but he has a catch percentage of 75 percent and his average depth of target is tied for 18th among all pass catchers in the NFL at 18.3. When the ADOT is that high, it means that a receiver is getting good separation. Defensive backs cannot stay with Wicks for a long time and even if they can, his 33.5-inch wingspan can make the impossible seem possible.
It’s also a good thing that the Packers have two solid tight ends. Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave can work the middle while Wicks, Matthew Golden and Malik Heath carve up the outside.
In 142 career games, Wicks has averaged 4.17 targets. He had a high of 13 against Minnesota in Week 4 last year and a low of one four times. I would like to see him generate more consistency, which will also help out the running game.
Can Wicks be someone that Jordan Love can count on? Can he be that third down monster that always seems to come down with the ball at the biggest moments?
These are questions the Packers need answered. If he can be relied on for at least seven targets a game, Green Bay will probably make the receiver room a little less crowded after this season.
There is so much talent in that room that isn’t getting a chance to showcase it right now. The moment it was revealed that Reed would be out for a significant amount of time, many people started to panic and wonder what the future would hold for a team that just mortgaged their future on the present.
The Packers have the Browns, Cowboys and a bye week coming up. Cleveland might be one of the worst teams in football and the Dallas defense just allowed Russell Wilson of all people to have one of the best games of his career as the Cowboys came back to beat the Giants in overtime.
Now is the time to truly see what you have. Wicks has shown flashes but I want to see him in a more pronounced role and thanks to injuries, he will likely be the primary pass catcher.
The question is, how will he respond?