Jayden Reed leads the Green Bay Packers in targets, receptions, receiving yards, and explosive receptions this season. He is their best wide receiver, and there’s little discussion about it.
The upside of not having a clear wide receiver one is that you can still score 31 points on one of the best defenses in the NFL without a player like this touching the football.
The downside is, well, a player like this eventually won’t touch the football in a big game.
Against the Lions, Reed didn’t record a single catch. Head coach Matt LaFleur said it was more situational than a gameplan issue, but Reed had only eight receptions for 73 yards in the last four games combined.
He’s had three 110+ receiving-yard games this season and leads the NFL in rushing yards among wide receivers. But the consistency as a receiver is yet not there.
“When you look at this last game, first of all, we only had 44 snaps. That obviously impacts your ability to get somebody the ball. But we tried to go to him early in the game.
Matter of fact, the first play was kind of designed to either more than likely go to him or (Dontayvion) Wicks, we got sacked on that play,” LaFleur recalled. “First third-down, we threw him the ball, he drew a DPI.
Then, early on, I think it was 2nd & 5, we threw him the ball in the middle of the field, and we threw him an out route, we didn’t complete that.”
LaFleur explained that the way the Lions played on defense somewhat forced the Packers to use heavier personnel, which is why Reed played only 50% of the offensive snaps.
“What they did to us is, we’re putting 11 personnel out on the field, and they kept playing what we were deeming like a base defense, with (Jamal) Adams in these. And they were playing a 3-4 structure.
So they were inviting you to throw the football,” LaFleur mentioned. “And we didn’t want to get into a game, we knew it was important to continue to run the ball, there just wasn’t a lot of runs that dropped very nicely versus that configuration.
That’s part of the reason we did a little bit more, I would say, we were trying to get more bigger people, 12 personnel.”
How to improve
Jayden Reed is a primary slot receiver, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do more for the offense. So far this season, he’s played 250 snaps in the slot and 61 as a wideout. That is, for LaFleur, the key for more productivity.
“Now, where we can be better, and I talked to Jayden about this, is just making sure that we have some of those plays for him in the gameplan where he’s tagged to go in there and play wideout,” LaFleur added.
“Because he’s certainly a very impactful player. It wasn’t by design that we didn’t want to throw the ball to him that day. That’s never the case.”
Jayden Reed has to be a big part of the offense, especially when Romeo Doubs is out. And it seems like the coaching staff will put a plan in place to make sure that happens over the next few games.
About the author
Wendell Ferreira covers the Green Bay Packers and NFL for the A to Z Sports trending and breaking news team.
