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GREEN BAY, Wisconsin – The Green Bay Packers trade All-Pro Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders to keep their offense humming with Aaron Rodgers acquiring Sammy Watkins and three draft picks. I bet you can.

It was a stupid business.

In his first year at Vegas, Adams caught 100 passes for 1,516 yards and 14 touchdowns. He combined Watkins and the rookie for 101 receptions for 1,324 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“Obviously I think losing Davante is a big deal. “There was hope in certain things trying to fill that void. Ultimately, it didn’t happen.”

“What we can do may have been taken for granted at times because over the years we have been able to create so many different things in that moment.” than absent.

For what it’s worth, only five teams spent less money on receivers than the Packers. Of the bottom seven consumers, only one (Baltimore) qualified for the playoffs.

This is part 3 of our annual player statistics series through the lens of the salary cap. All cap numbers are from OverTheCap.com. Analysis statistics are from Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions.

Randall Cobb ($4.15 million; 45th among recipients)

Randall Cobb finished sixth on the team with 34 receptions for 417 yards and one touchdown. He missed four games due to his ankle sprain. As he puts it, it was a “very serious injury,” but he was too proud to sit still for long.

Cobb caught 70.8% of his target throws, averaging 5.6 yards post catch, 1.67 yards per route, and two drops (5.6%). All of that was about as good as his professional career average for 12 years, and he was certainly a better choice than former third-round pick Amari Rodgers, who didn’t even finish his second season.

Two interesting notes. For one, in the final six games, Cobb caught 10 passes for 87 yards. Not that he should have been the focal point of the attack, but he needed more chances. Second, Cobb forced four missed tackles, which tied for the lead on the team, but symbolized a legion of receivers who weren’t quite there. Forced to miss tackle. More than the entire Packers receiver force.

Cobb, who turns 33 during training camp, is heading to free agency. Rodgers was right to want a return for the 2021 season. He’s probably right in hoping he’ll be back in 2023, too.

Grade: D plus.

Allen Lazard ($3.98 million, 49th among recipients)

Allen Lazard, who was forced into a bigger role following the offseason trade of Davante Adams, led the team with 60 receptions for 788 yards and was second with six receiving touchdowns in 15 games. Undrafted in 2018, his agent, whose rookie Packers wiped out Jacksonville’s practice team late in his season, Lazard has developed himself into a legitimate player. It’s not his fault that he didn’t play like No. 1, the role that Aaron Rodgers made him hot at the start of camp.

He had four (PFF) or five (SIS) drops, depending on who was counting. In the PFF, Lazard’s 6.3% drop rate ranked him 51st out of 84 receivers who were targeted at least 48 times. In interceptions thrown to receivers, five of the seven went to Lazard. Oddly enough, the team went 2-4 when he scored a touchdown, and at least he went 2-5 when he was targeted seven times.

There weren’t many explosive runs except for the number 13 doing the dirty work.

Should Lazard be the No. 1 receiver? Of course not. But no team in the NFL doesn’t have the would-be free agent on their roster. He may not be a great receiver, but he’s a very good footballer.

Grade: C.

Christian Watson ($1.68 million, 87th among recipients)

It’s been the story of three seasons for Christian Watson, the team’s ridiculously talented second-round pick.

Stalled by a hamstring injury early in the season, Watson caught 10-of-14 passes for 88 yards in the first nine games of the season. He went out on the field and could not stay on the field. Then came his one of the most ridiculous stretches in NFL history. After dropping his two passes in Game 10 against Dallas, he rebounded and scored three touchdowns. He added two scores against Tennessee, one during a late rally in Philadelphia and one on a clinch touchdown run against Chicago, scoring seven touchdowns in four games. Did.

No one can play to that level with sustained stretching. During his four-game winning streak, Watson failed to reach 50 receiving yards in any game. In the finale against Detroit, when the Packers really needed someone to rise to the occasion, Watson caught a 5/6 pass for 104 yards and added two carries for another 12 yards.

Whether he has the ball or not, he is extremely talented and will require opponents’ defenses to watch him on every play. He’s also a quality blocker, which isn’t surprising given how he’s been used at North Dakota State.

There are two keys to moving forward. One is to stay healthy. Watson underwent knee surgery after offseason practice and was sidelined with hamstring, head, ankle and hip injuries. Another is catching the ball. He sinned five drops. Of his 84 receivers he was targeted at least 48 times, Watson’s 10.9% drop rate ranked him 80th. However, he has recorded 19 catches and zero drops in his last five games. And notably, he caught his passes 9 of his 12 contests, whose 75.0% success rate lined him up for second in his group of 84. .

Watson’s rookie season was just the appetizer. The main course looks mouth-watering, showing breathtaking speed with long touchdowns against the Cowboys, Eagles and Bears.

Grade: B.

Sammy Watkins ($1.51 million, 93rd among recipients)

Injured players get injured. So it was no shock that Sammy Watkins was injured. His fragile hamstrings just can’t stand the rigors of the NFL. It’s too bad. He has a charming personality and is a team player.

Watkins’ 55-yard catch against Chicago in Week 2 helped secure the important victory. However, he spent the next four games on the disabled list and was not heard from until delivering a crucial block on Christian Watson’s clinching touchdown run against Chicago in Week 13. He was released a few days later.

He finished with 13 receptions for 206 yards, two drops and no miss tackles.

Grade: F.

Romeo Doubs ($875,979; #156 among receivers)

With Christian Watson no longer able to stay in the lineup, it was fourth-round pick Romeo Doubs who looked like a star rookie. In his first eight games, he had four or more receptions, five catches for 20 yards or more, and three touchdowns in five games.

An ankle injury then occurred in Week 9. Detroit’s Kirby sidelined the rest of the season with a questionable tackle by Joseph. After a four-game stint on the injured reserve, Dubs caught 11 of 17 passes for 112 yards and zero touchdowns in his final four games. He dropped both chances in the finale vs. Detroit, but neither was an easy chance.

Dubs finished the season with 42 receptions for 425 yards and three scores, ranking fifth in the rookie class in catch count. Of his catches, 31 were within 9 yards of him on the scrimmage line and 11 behind the line. That’s run-after catch player territory. Dubs missed a tackle. Additionally, he was ranked 71st (5/15; 33.3%) in competitive situations and 77th (5 drops; 10.6%) in drop percentage.

It’s easy to see Watson grow into a star. Doubs needs a little more imagination. But he has the skills and attitude to make it happen.

Grade: C.

Samori Toure ($724,253; #194 among receivers)

Samori Toure factored into the second half of the season when he scored a 37-yard touchdown in Buffalo in Week 8 and made an acrobatic tumbling catch in Green Bay’s desperate rally in Detroit in Week 9. It seemed possible. However, he threw only one pass, a 7-yard catch for Chicago, in the remaining 51 snaps of the season. Even Sammy Watkins’ dumping last season didn’t get the former ‘captain’. Casual on the field.

Toure finished the season with 5 receptions for 82 yards (10 targets) and 1 touchdown on 112 snaps.

A big camp awaits. Seventh-round rookie Beau Melton, meant to be a four-man draft pick in 2022, was added late in the season, creating a crowded receiver room.

“I’m definitely happy with my progress,” Toure said at the end of the year. “My hard work is paying off. It shows when you have good practice habits and are doing everything the right way in your routine.”

Grade: D.

100 days of mock

With 100 days left until the NFL Draft starts on January 17th, we started a mock goal of 100 mock drafts over 100 days. Click here for the series.

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