The Green Bay Packers are off to a fast start through two weeks of the NFL season, convincingly beating Detroit and Washington. Two games, two playoff teams, two wins. There were plenty of positives to take away from Week 2, with the obvious one being Tucker Kraft's big day.
Losing Jayden Reed, however, is going to be a significant loss to this offense. Still, it also provides Matt LaFleur with an excellent opportunity to experiment with his young receivers, mainly Matthew Golden and Savion Williams.
We are certainly going to see a healthy dose of Romeo Doubs, Dontavyon Wicks, and Kraft moving forward (depending on his injury status), and that alone is something that Packers fans should find comfort in. The group of wideouts and tight ends that Brian Gutekunst has assembled has been fun to watch mature and grow over the years.
Jayden Reed's absence will allow Packers to feature their two newest receivers
Reed was Jordan Love's top target last season, hauling in 55 receptions for 857 yards, finding the end zone six times. He even had 20 carries that went for 163 yards, making him the only player in the NFL with 800-plus receiving yards and 150-plus rushing yards in 2024.
While he rests and gets healthy after surgery on two injuries, now is the time for Love to start building chemistry with rookie receivers Matthew Golden and Savion Williams.
Golden was held without a catch last week, having a ball batted away in the end zone early on and then being slightly overthrown on a deep ball on what would most likely have been his first career touchdown.
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It's no surprise to see him and Jordan just slightly off in the early going. After all, Love was sidelined after the first preseason game with his thumb injury, so not being able to take those reps and build chemistry with his rookie wideout is showing.
With Reed sidelined, this opens the door for the two to create chemistry over the course of the season and build confidence that will undoubtedly be needed come December and January.
Golden can fill the role of Reed on those jet-sweep plays, or even lining up in the backfield, which brings me to Savion Williams.
The third-round pick out of TCU hasn't filled out the stat sheet in these first two weeks, and why would he? He was sidelined for most of training camp. What has stood out, however, has been his explosiveness on kick returns, along with his two carries out of the backfield for 24 yards this past Thursday.
LaFleur can have a field day drawing up plays that may even include both of his rookies lining up in the backfield. Imagine the confusion it will cause opposing defenses, not knowing who is going to get the ball.
It will provide an element of surprise that, by the time Reed returns for the final stretch, will be the bread and butter of the offense. Throw Reed back into the mix in that scheme, and my goodness, imagine how fun that would be to watch.