The first three seasons of head coach Matt LaFleur’s tenure with the Green Bay Packers were historic as his squads became the first in NFL history to win at least 13 games three years in a row from 2019 to 2021.
A staple of that success along with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who won consecutive NFL MVPs in 2020 and 2021, was Rodgers’ top target, All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams. He ranked second in the entire NFL in catches (321), receiving yards (3,924) and receiving touchdowns (34) in the first three years of LaFleur calling plays en route to three straight Pro Bowl nods and two First-Team All-Pro selections in 2020 and 2021.
Today, LaFleur’s Green Bay offense is built a little differently in the Jordan Love era. In Love’s first year starting in 2023, he ranked second in the NFL in passing touchdowns (32) while throwing to a group of wide receivers that set NFL single-season records for most catches (302), receiving yards (3,642) and receiving touchdowns (31) by first- or second-year players in 2023. The 2023 Packers became the youngest team to win a playoff game since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger (average age of 25 years and 214 days) after pummeling the second-seeded Dallas Cowboys 48-32 in the NFC wild card round, a game Green Bay led 27-0 at one point.
Their offensive success, centered around a number of different young wideouts contributing, has led many in the Fantasy football world and football world at large to question if Green Bay has a go-to pass-catcher. On Monday, LaFleur was asked a question specifically about 2023 fifth-round pick Dontayvion Wicks‘ role in the pecking order after he caught a 65-yard deep ball down the right sideline in the Packers’ preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns. That led to the head coach standing on his soap box about how he feels about those types of questions.
“I want to vomit every time I hear No. 1 receiver. It drives me crazy,” LaFleur said on Monday. “That’s something you guys talk about. I think we’ve got a bunch of them. I think the beauty of them is they’re capable of doing many things, which gives us a lot of versatility from an offensive perspective in terms of how we use these guys and deploy their talents. Especially those, I would say top-four guys, they’re capable of being a No. 1 in some capacity. It’s just how do we want to attack somebody? Where do we want to put those guys? Who’s going to get the ball? I don’t know. It could change on a week-to-week basis. We saw it last year.”
Green Bay was the only team in the NFL last season to have four players — wide receivers Jayden Reed (2023 second-round pick), Romeo Doubs (2022 fourth-round pick), Christian Watson (2022 second-round pick) and Wicks — with over 400 receiving yards and four or more receiving touchdowns — who were all under the age of 25. Regardless of where Wicks fits into that rotation on a weekly basis, LaFleur has plenty of capable options to scheme up for Love to choose from when he drops back to pass.
