WR being Packers biggest post-draft weakness???

[Deleted member 6794]

Interesting take by Football Outsiders on the Packers biggest weakness after the draft and information on some of the team's undrafted free agents.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/four-downs/2016/four-downs-nfc-north

Unfortunately it seems the author forgot about Ty Montgomery being a part of the receiving corps.

 

[Half Empty]

Maybe waiting to see if he's healthy first? Certainly could just be an oversight.

 

[bigbubbatd]

I like football outsiders but this makes little sense. How is wr worse than ilb or even dl or rb? If wr is our worst group this year either Jordy got hurt again or we will win the super bowl bc our defense will be great

 

[Deleted member 6794]

I like football outsiders but this makes little sense. How is wr worse than ilb or even dl or rb? If wr is our worst group this year either Jordy got hurt again or we will win the super bowl bc our defense will be great

I don't agree with Football Outsiders take on the matter either as there's no doubt in my opinion that inside linebacker is still by far the weakest position group on the roster.

I just wanted to throw it out there to stir some discussion during a quiet period of Packers news.

 

[Sky King]

Last year was not a great year for the Packers. Untimely WR injuries and sub-par play was just one part of that equation. So was the lack of a dedicated receiver's coach and the influence of a different play-caller for much of the year. Coincidence? The team certainly has the WR talent to deliver a dramatic rebound. Most are much too young to have hit their ceilings. I'm looking forward to what they can do in 2016.

Maybe this article is a good sign of how hard it is to find a significant weakness. He spun the wheel to find a weakness and it stopped on WR. It had to be something.

 

[Sky King]

I don't agree with Football Outsiders take on the matter either as there's no doubt in my opinion that inside linebacker is still by far the weakest position group on the roster.

I just wanted to throw it out there to stir some discussion during a quiet period of Packers news.

The writer may put a lot of stock in the Martinez selection.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

The writer may put a lot of stock in the Martinez selection.

I'm optimistic about Martinez as well but he's unproven and as of right now shouldn't elevate inside linebacker from the bottom of the most talented positions on the team.

 

[Vrill]

The writer may put a lot of stock in the Martinez selection.

A lot of people are. That isn't anything new. Blake is highly touted and a lot of folks think he might be a good one.

 

[SoonerPack]

Interesting take by Football Outsiders on the Packers biggest weakness after the draft and information on some of the team's undrafted free agents.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/four-downs/2016/four-downs-nfc-north

Unfortunately it seems the author forgot about Ty Montgomery being a part of the receiving corps.

I was about to read it but noticed your comment on 88 and thought otherwise. Ty showed a lot of promise in his limited exposure to the pro game last year and that excites me. If you are doing an honest evaluation of the WR group and conveniently 86 one of the brightest pieces of said group, I'm out. Obviously last year showed there are some issues with this group once you eliminate Jordy from the group. With that being said 87 is back and Cobb will now be able to go back to his #2, more complimentary role which he has thrived in seasons past. I know Janis is very polarizing but I am in the camp believing the proverbial light went off for him and this season could be better than many predict. The biggest risk/reward guy is clearly Adams. Talk about a big season for a guy and his future both on this team and the league itself. He was banged up last year so I am hoping we see a completely different cat this year. If he can be the guy we hope this offense can go to a level they've never been to before. The talent is there but will his mind accompany said talent? Abby has turned into a somewhat forgotten man and I hope he flashes in camp making the personnel decisions difficult for the higher ups. I went back and watched some more tape on the UCLA kid, Davis, and liked what I saw. He has massive hands and when he opens up can flat out run like a deer. I don't know if he will be able to crack the lineup but I certainly wouldn't rule him out. All in all I like this group a lot and think they will quickly erase our memories of last years offensive struggles. Sorry for the rant but i am beyond ready for some football! G P G!!

 

[Deleted member 6794]

I was about to read it but noticed your comment on 88 and thought otherwise. Ty showed a lot of promise in his limited exposure to the pro game last year and that excites me. If you are doing an honest evaluation of the WR group and conveniently 86 one of the brightest pieces of said group, I'm out.

It's possible the author just forgot to mention Montgomery when writing about the unit's outlook entering the 2016 season. In general Football Outsiders is pretty thorough in their analysis.

 

[RicFlairoftheNFL]

Biggest Packer weakness coming out of the draft is the Tight End position. Just one man's opinion.

 

[sschind]

I wouldn't say its our weakest position but its far from the "stacked" unit so many fans think it is. IMO I think its pretty much exactly where it was last year and I didn't think we were stacked last year either. Any gains we may have made in the sense that Janis is better (lets just leave it at that for the sake of this argument) are offset by the fact that Adams seems to have taken a step back. Any gains that we may have made from Montgomery looking pretty darn good are offset by his injury and the fact that its still being talked about. Not to mention our #1 star is coming back from a serious injury and our #2 star was proven to be not much more than average (though I am confident he will bounce back.)

Some questions we had before last season may have been answered but I think we have just as many if not more going into this year.

 

[RRyder]

Biggest Packer weakness coming out of the draft is the Tight End position. Just one man's opinion.

Disagree. Cook as the starter with RR as a backup is a pretty nice situation to have. RR is probably one of the better reserves out there right now.

WR may not be the weakest but if it was phrase as "the position that most badly needs to be improved from last year" then Id be inclined to agree.

The article isn't that big of a reach. Our WRs were bad last year injuries included

 

[adambr2]

Pretty shoddy analysis IMO. He completely forgets about Ty as you guys mention and refers to Cobb as a 'youngster', which, whatever, but he's entering his 6th season and on his second contract and he acts like Cobb is a total wild card.

Obviously we had struggles at WR in 2015 along with every position on offense but right now we have 7 WR with good cases to be on the roster. I don't know how much more depth we can be expected to have.

In a perfect world of course I'd love for Rodgers to have 3 or 4 Pro Bowl receivers to throw to but that being a pretty tough task, I think we're in decent shape. As long as Nelson comes back 100% which all accounts indicate he should, I'm not concerned about WR.

 

[Ogsponge]

I have not even read the article but let's take a look at the receiving corps.

1. Jordy Nelson - will he be the same guy he was pre injury?
2. Reggie Cobb - does not look all the special without #1 in the lineup
3. Davante Adams - um, i really don't even know what to say, he needs to be way, way better
4. Ty Montgomery - can he stay healthy and contribute
5. Jared Abbrederis - Can he take the next step?
6. Jeff Janis - flash of athletic brilliance but not really much else

I know I am leaving out the draft pick but he is a completely unknown.

So anyway, I look at this receiving corps and it is completely filled with unknown quantities. If Jordy is not Jordy, then Reggie is not Reggie, if Adams does not improve, he is basically worthless, What exactly is Montgomery? Will Abby improve? Will Janis be able to properly run more than one route?

I guess what I am getting at is, until the season starts and all of these players on the field and working together, I personally do not have a lot of faith in this receiving corps mainly be cause if Jordy is not Jordy, I don't believe the rest are capable of leading this team.

Oh, and last thing, and really the most important thing is, was Rodgers inexplicable lack of accuracy last year based entirely on the undisclosed injury (until the season ended) and will he return to the QB we expect?

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Biggest Packer weakness coming out of the draft is the Tight End position. Just one man's opinion.

As Ryder already mentioned Cook and Rodgers are a solid one-two punch. There are question marks about the depth at the position though.

I wouldn't say its our weakest position but its far from the "stacked" unit so many fans think it is. IMO I think its pretty much exactly where it was last year and I didn't think we were stacked last year either. Any gains we may have made in the sense that Janis is better (lets just leave it at that for the sake of this argument) are offset by the fact that Adams seems to have taken a step back. Any gains that we may have made from Montgomery looking pretty darn good are offset by his injury and the fact that its still being talked about. Not to mention our #1 star is coming back from a serious injury and our #2 star was proven to be not much more than average (though I am confident he will bounce back.)

Some questions we had before last season may have been answered but I think we have just as many if not more going into this year.

I have not even read the article but let's take a look at the receiving corps.

1. Jordy Nelson - will he be the same guy he was pre injury?
2. Reggie Cobb - does not look all the special without #1 in the lineup
3. Davante Adams - um, i really don't even know what to say, he needs to be way, way better
4. Ty Montgomery - can he stay healthy and contribute
5. Jared Abbrederis - Can he take the next step?
6. Jeff Janis - flash of athletic brilliance but not really much else

I know I am leaving out the draft pick but he is a completely unknown.

So anyway, I look at this receiving corps and it is completely filled with unknown quantities. If Jordy is not Jordy, then Reggie is not Reggie, if Adams does not improve, he is basically worthless, What exactly is Montgomery? Will Abby improve? Will Janis be able to properly run more than one route?

I guess what I am getting at is, until the season starts and all of these players on the field and working together, I personally do not have a lot of faith in this receiving corps mainly be cause if Jordy is not Jordy, I don't believe the rest are capable of leading this team.

Oh, and last thing, and really the most important thing is, was Rodgers inexplicable lack of accuracy last year based entirely on the undisclosed injury (until the season ended) and will he return to the QB we expect?

My optimism about the Packers wide receiving corps is based on Nelson returning fully healthy for this season. All indications point in this direction but if for whatever reason Jordy isn´t able to play up to his potential there´s no reason to feel confident about this group.

 

[Ogsponge]

As Ryder already mentioned Cook and Rodgers are a solid one-two punch. There are question marks about the depth at the position though.





My optimism about the Packers wide receiving corps is based on Nelson returning fully healthy for this season. All indications point in this direction but if for whatever reason Jordy isn´t able to play up to his potential there´s no reason to feel confident about this group.

If Jordy is healthy I think we are fine, but there is no guarantee a 31 year old guy coming off major knee surgery is going to be anywhere near as good as he once was.

 

[armand34]

I wouldn't say it's a weakness, but a big unknown considering the group. At least, that's how I would've worded it.

Everyone was beat up except for Janis and we go into this off-season with hardly the ability to predict the 2016 WR group. That is kind of weird for this team considering their recent history, but hopefully they make the right choices. It's going to be a curious training camp and pre-season.

 

[tynimiller]

This WR corps...is very young...and I think by the year's end we may very well be sitting going "D*** how in the world did ALL of these miss (Adams, Ty, Davis, Janis, Abby)?" or we could be saying "D*** how in the world do we get the ball to all these young guns (Adams, Ty, Davis, Janis Abby)?"

My gut tells me it is in between....I feel Abby is out, but lot can change...I also feel at least 1 of the other 4 has their stock rise and play excel this year (Adams, Ty, Davis, Janis).

We truly have a polarizing corp of WRs, Nelson is undoubtedly one of the best in the league when healthy and Cobb has proven he may be one of the best #2s (just don't expect him to be #1).....can we find that other outside threat and a #4 rise up from the group is the big question.

**Wildcard Factor: Lacy. I think Lacy's play will have almost as big of an impact on the WRs stat lines as the WRs do some games.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

**Wildcard Factor: Lacy. I think Lacy's play will have almost as big of an impact on the WRs stat lines as the WRs do some games.

On the other hand the performance by the wide receivers will have an impact on Lacy as well. Teams won´t be able to put an extra defender in the box if they have to respect the Packers deep passing game.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

I like football outsiders but this makes little sense. How is wr worse than ilb or even dl or rb? If wr is our worst group this year either Jordy got hurt again or we will win the super bowl bc our defense will be great

This makes perfect sense. The ILB position will be better than it was last year and the defense was plenty good enough last year. When I read team's biggest weakness I think, "what position has the potential to hold the team back the most". ILB, while lacking strong players, isn't a position on a team that really has enough impact to "hurt" a team. Packers had the 12th best scoring defense in the NFL last year and the ILB position should be better next season.

Wide receiver on the other hand was terrible and really hurt the offense. Packers didn't do anything to improve that group if Nelson gets hurt again or, hesitate to even mention this, Nelson's injury lowers his level of play next year. Yes, the author forgot about Montgomery but the simple fact that people are bringing up a guy who played in 6 games and had 15 catches for 196 yards as a point of contention should tell you all you need to know about the WR position.

Basically comes down to, does weak ILB play hurt the team more than weak WR play? Answer to that was demonstrated quite clearly last year. Weak ILB play doesn't really affect the defense even a fraction as much as weak WR play hurts the offense.

 

[SoonerPack]

It's possible the author just forgot to mention Montgomery when writing about the unit's outlook entering the 2016 season. In general Football Outsiders is pretty thorough in their analysis.

That's true and since he was injured most of the season he may have been out of the author's mind. With that being said I find it hard to believe 88 would be left out of any thorough examination of the WR group but we are all humans and mistakes happen...I should know.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Pretty shoddy analysis IMO. He completely forgets about Ty as you guys mention and refers to Cobb as a 'youngster', which, whatever, but he's entering his 6th season and on his second contract and he acts like Cobb is a total wild card.

Obviously we had struggles at WR in 2015 along with every position on offense but right now we have 7 WR with good cases to be on the roster. I don't know how much more depth we can be expected to have.

In a perfect world of course I'd love for Rodgers to have 3 or 4 Pro Bowl receivers to throw to but that being a pretty tough task, I think we're in decent shape. As long as Nelson comes back 100% which all accounts indicate he should, I'm not concerned about WR.

Randall Cobb is 25 years old. That's a youngster. Ty doesn't deserve special mention as a positive for the WR group because he's a complete unknown; if the author mentioned Ty then he might as well mention Janis and Abbrederis. The article wasn't discussing depth, the article was talking about weakness. The WR group was the single position that hurt this team the most last season. If Nelson doesn't return to his 2014 form, there isn't really a whole lot to show the team should expect anything better from the rest of the WRs in 2016.

 

[SoonerPack]

This makes perfect sense. The ILB position will be better than it was last year and the defense was plenty good enough last year. When I read team's biggest weakness I think, "what position has the potential to hold the team back the most". ILB, while lacking strong players, isn't a position on a team that really has enough impact to "hurt" a team. Packers had the 12th best scoring defense in the NFL last year and the ILB position should be better next season.

Wide receiver on the other hand was terrible and really hurt the offense. Packers didn't do anything to improve that group if Nelson gets hurt again or, hesitate to even mention this, Nelson's injury lowers his level of play next year. Yes, the author forgot about Montgomery but the simple fact that people are bringing up a guy who played in 6 games and had 15 catches for 196 yards as a point of contention should tell you all you need to know about the WR position.

Basically comes down to, does weak ILB play hurt the team more than weak WR play? Answer to that was demonstrated quite clearly last year. Weak ILB play doesn't really affect the defense even a fraction as much as weak WR play hurts the offense.

I disagree with the statement that the Packers did nothing to improve from last year. I think Davis could bring something sorely missing to this unit last year with his vertical ability and huge catch radius. Monty is a tough cover and could've helped big time were he not banged up all year. Plus when you factor in Jared Cook it further weakens your statement. I know he is a TE but let's not play here, the guy is a WR for the most part and has the ability to stretch the middle of the field and keep safeties from creeping towards the line too much. I too cringe at the thought of losing 87 again but if it were to happen I believe we are better prepared to handle it this upcoming season. Not move on as if nothing happened rather simply handle it better. You don't lose a guy of Jordys caliber and not feel it. G P G!

 

[adambr2]

Ty doesn't deserve special mention as a positive for the WR group because he's a complete unknown; if the author mentioned Ty then he might as well mention Janis and Abbrederis. The article wasn't discussing depth, the article was talking about weakness.

Did you read the article? He did mention Janis and Abbrederis. So I sure think he should at least have brought Montgomery up when mentioning our depth. And yes, it does discuss depth, it literally word for word says, 'you'd like to see more depth here'.

Also regardless of how old Cobb is, a 6th year veteran is not a 'youngster' in NFL terms that should be lumped in with a 3rd year WR. 6 years is longer than most NFL careers.