Green Bay Packers: 50 greatest players in franchise history
By John Buhler
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WR. (1999-12). Donald Driver. 23. player. 49.
Greatest players in Green Bay Packers history: 23. Donald Driver
When it comes to overall value of a draft selection, let’s just say that the Packers got more than their money’s worth out of wide receiver Donald Driver. Taken in the seventh round of the 1999 NFL Draft out of Alcorn State, Driver would go on to make four trips to the Pro Bowl and win a Super Bowl in Packers uniform.
Driver was there for the back-half of Brett Favre’s prime and the rise of a young Aaron Rodgers. A model of consistency in the receiving game, Driver had over 1,000 receiving yards in a season seven times, including six years in a row from 2004 to 2010. After a so-so first three years in the league, Driver broke out in a big way with his first Pro Bowl season. He had 74 catches for 1,064 yards and nine touchdowns that season.
Though never an All-Pro, Driver’s best season with the Packers came in 2006. That year he had career highs in receptions (92) and yardage (1,295), as well as eight touchdown grabs. He made two more Pro Bowls in 2007 and 2009 before exiting his prime. In 2010, Driver was part of the Super Bowl XLV championship team over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Driver retired after the 2012 NFL season having only played for the Packers. In 14 years with Green Bay, Driver had 743 receptions for 10,137 yards and 61 touchdowns. In 2017, Driver was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame. Though his body of work is impressive, a logjam at wide receiver and only a five-year prime might have Driver on the outside looking in at Canton. Regardless, he was one of the better receivers in the NFL in the 2000s.