As they prepared to transition to Jordan Love at quarterback, the Packers were often named as a team interested in adding one or more veteran receivers this year. With another draft filled with pass-catching additions having come and gone, however, that no longer appears to be the case. 
With Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb both having signed with the Jets to continue their time with Aaron Rodgers, the Packers have once again seen signficant experience depart their receiving corps. Last offseason, Davante Adams was traded to the Raiders and Marquez Valdes-Scantling joined the Chiefs, leading Green Bay to select three WRs in the draft (Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure).
Head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed that more additions would be made in 2023, with preference seemingly being given to veterans – an understandable approach, given the question marks surrounding Love’s readiness for an NFL starting gig. No signings were made during the initial waves of free agency, though, and the Packers again leaned heavily on the draft to add depth at the position. The team ended up selecting another three receivers (headlined by second-rounder Jayden Reed), along with a pair of tight ends. As a result, they may be willing to press pause on their search for veterans.
“I think time will tell,” LaFleur said, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, “but it’s certainly a very talented room. It’s going to be a hell of a competition in terms of who’s getting the snaps, because just at first glimpse at some of these young guys who were in here, there are some talented guys… if need be, I know [GM Brian Gutekunst] is going to do whatever we can to help us field the best possible team. If need be, I think we would turn [towards a veteran signing], but right now I think we’re just going to let those guys compete.”
Plenty of attention will be on Love and the new offense, given his extension which secures his future for the next two years. The passer whom the Packers are tapping as Rodgers’ successor will have a number of options available to him in the pass-catching corps for his first season as the starter, and it appears at least each of the key ones for 2023 in that regard are already on the roster despite the question marks surrounding their readiness.
I don’t think this is a bad thing. Let them all grow together. There certainly is plenty of talent on paper and I think this year will be a bit of a retooling.
It is when they have a young QB. Obviously you want to give him every chance to succeed but on the flip side if he is bad you don’t want to be in the position of deciding if he was actually bad or bad because he had no weapons. They need to create the best team possible to see if Love is the real deal or not
I don’t see anything wrong with having a core group of young WR/TE growing together, BUT I do think they should have a strong veteran or two to help these guys learn the ropes.
Love can teach them what he has learned on how to be a professional and about the NFL, and they can build a relationship with eachother on the field through several reps, but he cannot teach them the nuances of how to get better as WRs. He can’t teach them the tips and tricks veterans learn playing the position..
Now, with that being said, the one veteran they do have is their position coach WR Coach and their Passing Game Coordinator Jason Vrabel. While he was a QB in college, he’s still proven himself to seemingly be a pretty solid WR Coach.
He’s worked with and helped develop the likes of Robert Woods, Sammy Watkins, Robby Anderson, Randall Cobb, Jermaine Kearse, Davante Adams, Valdez-Scantling, Allen Lazard, and then helped Doubs and Watson break out last season.
So, he definitely has set a precedent of being a quality developer of talent at the WR position, and that’s really mostly all they need. Even still though, I think they would have been better off with a veteran in that WR room to help all these young guys out.
At the very least, I think they really should look to resign Mercedes Lewis, so he can help develop their TEs, and be a guy the WRs can look up to as well. He’d be able to fill that role, and he’s already familiar with Love’s tendencies..
Who would even be available at this point? Another Sammy Watkins? If they need someone to mentor these kids, bring in Donald Driver or Jordy Nelson as a guest coach to help with OTAs and training camp or something like that. Adding another player to the room just means less opportunity for these young guys on the field, and squeezing 1 off the roster down the road.
If u weren’t gonna have elite wideouts when u had HOF QB why now
They had elite wide receiver when Rodgers was here except last year. Like you forgot they Adams considered one of the best receivers in football before last year
Many a coaching career has come to grief on the rocks of “potential”.