Packers fans express frustration over unenthusiastic training camp preview, believing that new wide receivers in Green Bay won’t hold team back.
Mike Tanier, a senior analyst at Football Outsiders, released an NFC North training camp preview today, and his ho-hum analysis of the Green Bay Packers wide receiver situation left fans feeling frustrated.
Tanier immediately begins his Packers analysis by taking shots at quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ “patience/social skills/human decency” for having not yet publicly offered any praise in regards to the team’s new receiving corps.
“Unless someone emerges immediately as the next Davante Adams, Packers fans can look forward to a long summer of vacant stares and passive-aggressive negging,” Tanier wrote in his assessment. “Business as usual, in other words, except that Rodgers will be disgruntled at his young teammates instead of in addition to the organization.”
Analysis of Green Bay wide receiver room leaves Packers fans frustrated
Whether Rodgers speaks on the matter at all in the offseason is irrelevant, and wouldn’t even be irregular to his standards. After all, it took Rodgers some time to say something on the departure of Davante Adams, and both Rodgers and Adams have made it abundantly clear that the respect and admiration remains mutual. If Rodgers didn’t praise one of his greatest receivers immediately after leaving, it’s no surprise he’s been mum on recent acquisitions.
The only evident reality when discussing the Packers wideouts is that it’s a new group. Davante Adams is gone, and whether or not that will effect Rodgers success will remain a mystery until the season gets going. To address the gap Adams has left in his wake, the Packers drafted Christian Watson with the No. 34 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Tanier described Watson as a “traits guy who didn’t catch many passes in college, but everyone sounds certain he’ll succeed anyway.”
Tanier’s entire overview of the NFC North seemed to be done somewhat in jest. It is widely acknowledged that 2022 will be a down year for the division, with the Detroit Lions in the midst of a perpetual rebuild, the Chicago Bears under entirely new management, the Minnesota Vikings deploying a new offensive scheme, and the Packers moving on from their biggest scoring threat in Adams. However, suggesting that Packers fans have anything to be legitimately concerned about heading into the season is a tad excessive.
Rodgers is still far and away the best quarterback in the division, and although they spent yet another draft focused almost entirely on investing in the defense, the Packers are still substantial favorites to win the division.
No matter who is deployed to catch passes for the upcoming 17 games in 2022, Aaron Rodgers will make it work. He has, after all, won back-to-back league MVP’s. Regardless of what he says or neglects to say about his wide receivers before training camp doesn’t change that.