Green Bay Packers: NFC North WR grades and rankings
With wide receiver being a plentiful reservoir of talent in just about every draft in recent memory, one would expect most wideout-needy teams to have it pretty easy to experience a quick turnaround at the position provided they add multiple rookie prospects to the roster.
But playing the receiver position requires much more than being tall, fast and possessing soft hands.
Having those three qualities, for instance, and lacking the physical strength or quick feet to get a clean release off the line of scrimmage can turn any first-team All-American into the next bust-in-waiting that finds himself out of the league in three years.
Among the members of the NFC North, the Detroit Lions are the one squad that was served with the unenviable task of replacing a legend last season following Calvin Johnson’s decision to hang up the cleats at the relatively young playing age of 30 considering his level of productivity.
And though the Bears haven’t rostered anyone quite as dominant as Megatron over the past few seasons, they too are burdened with the herculean task of having to cover the losses of star veterans in consecutive years with the respective departures of Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery.
The Vikings, on the other hand, have swung and missed with recent first-round pass catchers, but have luckily unearthed promising gems in the late rounds and in the undrafted-free-agent aftermarket.
The future in Green Bay, meanwhile, looks appreciably brighter than a year ago when their top option in the passing game, Jordy Nelson, was returning from a torn ACL after a 2015 season that didn’t see any of his receiver peers step up the fore in replacing No. 87’s consistently elevated level of achievement.
Will 2017 be yet another year where the Packers will reign supreme at the position with their cadre of established veterans or will the lesser-heralded weapons from one of its division rivals raise their games and overtake the Packers News contingent?
Stay tuned, as Lombardi Ave examines each position grouping and assigns its offseason grades.