RP Clips: Can the Packers Figure Themselves Out?

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2:05Jaden Raid was placed on IR. It looks like potentially a season-ending neck injury here for Jaden Raid's injury. As we're taping this, Matt LaFour actually just announced that it is indeed a season-ending. Scary looking injury for sure. Again, we talked about this a lot in the off season that they turned a strength into a potential weakness. The fragility of the wide receiver room was always in question and now we're less than four weeks into the season. Jaden Raid, one of their primary guys, is going to be missing the entire season. I don't know who steps up. I don't know who's going to fill that role here for Green Bay. But I will say, man, that was a big time worry coming into the season that injury concerns were a big thing. I just don't know if they have the depth, Matt, to overcome an injury like this. I know who's stepping into that role. It's our old friend Skymore is going to be the starting slot receiver now for the Green Bay Packers. Skymore and week three

3:09ran 48% of the routes, which is pretty classic. The slot was even Jaden Raid struggled for full-time reps in this offense. But 48% route participation he was target on 27% of his routes. A lot of short and underneath stuff. 7.7 yards after catch per reception. He caught three passes for 31 yards. It's not going to be a big role. But yeah, they're going to be playing Skymore as the starting slot receiver, the rest of the way, which there's a small part of me that is curious to see how that goes because I liked Skymore as a prospect. But he never really developed in the NFL. So again, part of me is a sick pup that thinks that could be interesting. But it's still tough. The depth of this team is really difficult. Savion Williams is on injured reserve for this team. Maybe he at some point could get into the design touches mix. If he can get back on the field, I'm not 100% sure about his injury status. But yeah, I mean, you're right. And by the way, Christian Watson, some of the injury docs on Twitter, were noting that I watched Thursday and at football on the freaking plane out to San Diego.

4:12So I didn't totally pick up on this. But I saw the injury docs on Twitter were noting that Christian Watson kind of popped his leg up at one point late in the game. This is not a guy that has a clean injury history whatsoever. If you look at the contract, it gave him it's one of those that looks really good on paper. But there's probably there's some ways that okay, guaranteed money they can get out of it if injuries. Matthew Golden has looked good so far. But you know, some holes in his game, but he's he's definitely an improved player in year two. It looks looks good on film and is getting open against man coverage. That's been good to see. It's a light room. Tucker Kraft is not all the way back. He had a rough game on Thursday night football for sure. He's also having a block more than he did previously because the offensive line is brutal. I mean, the Packers are a bad bad football team. And I really just feel for Jaden Reed, man. This is a guy who liked as a prospect first two years in the NFL were really good. I know he was up and down from a fantasy perspective, but objectively a really good NFL player. And the last two years of his career have just been ruined by injuries and neck injuries are serious and scary. It's it's it's a good thing. Jaden Reed got

5:17paid in the off season because yeah, I'm just really not sure where he goes from here. It's I wish him the best though. Wish him the best. So no Jaden Reed here and I know Skymore will be the the guy. You know, I don't know how much he's going to be utilized as you said, you know, less than 60% snap share, whatever it might be. J Michael Sturd Van is another player that's in the mix here. I don't think he's ever going to play slot. Not that he shouldn't. I actually think he'd be a pretty good as you call him, you know, one of these oversized slot players. I just think because Green Bay is Green Bay, they see the size they're going to play him outside. But that being said, you were 60 40 for what it's worth 60 40 in the game week three outside slot 60% outside 40% slots. So maybe that's way more than I thought man. That's actually surprising. Okay, so that all that being said though, could this end up leading to a higher concentration of targets for both Christian Watson and Matthew Golden? Yeah, I mean, honestly, because Reed is barely played, it's kind of already happening. If you look at just league wide

6:19targets per route rate among receivers who have played a ton, it number one in the NFL is Zey flowers 48% targets per route. But both the Packers receivers are up there. I mean, Christian Watson is 26% 30th among wide receivers and tight ends. Matthew Golden is 23 with 26% 27%. Targets per route. If you just look at wide receivers, these guys are both in the top 5th top again, top top 21 in this metric. So yeah, I mean, these guys are going to dominate the targets in Green Bay. It's going to be pretty concentrated there, especially if Tucker craft, you know, is in 100% or like, I don't know when Tucker craft will be back to 100% it might be more mid season. Oh, you know, they need him back pretty quickly. They need him to get up to up to just enough here in a in a bad way. So yeah, I mean, there's no question like it's going to be a very concentrated offense between these guys, Christian Watson and Matthew Golden. You say that, Matt, but how confident are you that it will be that way. I'll tell you what,

7:25in what we saw on Monday night, I certainly did not see that. I saw LaFloor doing LaFloor things, which is just, well, we got them on the field and now we're going to draw a place for them. Like, why is Skymore seeing the amount of targets that he is seeing? Like, that's why I bring this up because I'm actually, look, logically speaking, of course, that's what should happen. I think Matthew Golden has really taken a step forward this year and they paid Christian Watson all this money. He's got to be their alpha. But what I saw on Monday night, I did not see a highly concentrated passing attack. I saw again, Skymore coming in and getting way too many targets, way too many looks, way too many design looks for my taste. The fact that the offensive line is struggling to hold up to quicker passing attack, I think, should be a high priority for Green Bay, which again, just makes me wonder how much can they actually utilize somebody like Matthew Golden working downfield and especially Christian Watson working downfield? That is a good point. 14% target

8:28share in week three for Skymore. Look, maybe Matt LaFlore was just checking out his reception perception prospect profile from 2020. He didn't look at the rookie year. He just was looking at the prospect profile. It was Matt LaFlore. By the way, LaFlore's halftime interview in that game. I was like, this guy, and I know halftime interviews are usually nothing but, coming back from half, they were asked, he just looked like a guy that just, I'm out of, he's out of answers. Oh, he is. Yeah, he is. I don't really know, because I'm sitting here thinking like, I don't really know what the answer is either with a running game that stinks out loud and offensive line that's no good. I don't really know what they do here. Yeah, I mean, in terms of the depth of route, the stat I was mentioning earlier, Matthew Golden 7.3, Christian Watson 7.0, that's actually not that deep necessarily. But then you also have, you have Jaden Reed at 5.3, you have Skymore at 5.0. Yeah, those guys are going to get the designer looks and now that Reed is gone, it's going to be Skymore. Which is so funny, bro, it's like now that Jaden Reed

9:37has got, as if Jaden Reed ever got designed. You know what I'm saying? Why is it all of a sudden that he's out, but Skymore is getting the targets and the looks that we've been begging for for Jaden Reed. That's what's so funny about this whole situation. It's crazy. It's absurd. It doesn't make any sense to me. I don't know, man. I think this Packer's offense is bad, and I think they're in for a tough season. They're right now in the offensive efficiency metrics. I like to look at their 30, 30th in the NFL. Oh, good. 26 and explosive play, 24th and success rate, 28th in time of possession per drive, 29th in drives at end with the score, 25th in points per drive, 29th in rushing EPA, 16th in passing EPA. So they're up below average to bottom barrel offense in all of the metrics, essentially. It's not great. So yeah, I mean, they better hope that Matthew Golden and Christian Watson can stay healthy because if those guys go down, this is going

10:37to be Jordan Love and the preseason boys here pretty quickly. Yeah. Like I said, I'm not 100% sure how they work around the health, but we'll see. We'll see. Jason is an avid hiker who loves the outdoors. During what should have been a peaceful hike, that calm was suddenly broken. A mountain lion appeared on the trail just yards away. Fortunately, Jason had packed his Bernaless lethal launcher, armed with kinetic rounds, Jason fired a warning shot, deterring the mountain lion and giving his family time to get to safety. Bernaless lethal launchers fire powerful kinetic and chemical irritant rounds, designed to stop threats. Visit Berna.com. That's B-Y-R-N-A, Berna.com. Purchase and shipping restrictions vary by state and municipality. Go to Berna.com to check availability at your location.