(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
By Mark Eckel
Could there be a little feeling of deja vu around Lombardi Ave. in Green Bay this week?
Tuesday the Packers signed free agent wide receiver/returnman Skyy Moore to a one-year contract.
Moore came into the league as a highly-regarded prospect out of Western Michigan and was a second-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022.
A bit undersized at 5-10, 195, Moore never quite got it going in Andy Reid's offense and after three mostly nondescript seasons — he caught 43 passes for 404 yards and one touchdown — Reid and the Chiefs traded him to San Francisco.
With the 49ers, Moore was barely used on offense (five receptions, 87 yards), but was used as both the team's kickoff and punt returner. He helped San Francisco have one of the best special teams in the league with an 11.6-yard average on punts and a 27.5-yard average on kickoffs.
Those numbers ranked sixth best in the league on kickoffs and fourth best on punts. Moore's combined average of 39.1 yards on both ranked third best in the league behind only the Titans Chimere Dike (41.9) and league leader, the Jets Isaiah Williams (44.0).
So Moore could fix a weakness the Packers have had for a long time. Let's say oh about 30 years, or so.
Turn the clock back to 1996 when the Packers signed an undersized, but highly-regarded wide receiver out of a college in Michigan who was with two other teams before he came to Green Bay.
That would be Desmond Howard who was selected with the No. 4 overall pick of the 1992 draft by Washington (one selection before the Packers took cornerback Terrell Buckley instead of Troy Vincent). The 5-10, 185-pound Howard was a little better in D.C. than Moore was in KC, but not much.
In three years with Washington, just after Joe Gibbs retired for the first time, the former Heisman Trophy winner caught 66 passes for 1,033 yards. Not exactly what you expect from a top five pick in the draft.
Washington sent Howard to Jacksonville where he spent the 1995 season and had 26 receptions for 276 yards. If Howard wasn't a bust he was as close as you could get to being one.
Then he landed in Green Bay as a free agent. He was almost cut in training camp before he returned a punt for a touchdown in a preseason against Pittsburgh. That return saved his job and then he saved the Packers.
Howard, in 1996, averaged 15.1-yards per punt return and brought three back for touchdowns. He split time with Don Beebe on kickoffs and averaged just 20.9-yards per return.
Then came the playoffs. In the Packers wins over San Francisco, Carolina and New England in the Super Bowl Howard averaged 23.3 yards on punt returns, with a 71-yard touchdown and 30.8 on kickoffs with a 99-yard touchdown. He's still the only special teams player to win a Super Bowl MVP award.
Moore might not be able to match any, or all, of that. The comparisons are just too similar to ignore.