The Green Bay Packers might have a special teams problem, but they're not ready to give up all hope on it improving just yet. And, they shouldn't.
The team has been utilizing rookies in Savion Williams and Matthew Golden this season as punt returners, and the early returns on that experiment have been less than stellar.
Multiple instances of both returners having lapses in judgment on when to call for a fair catch, or when to let the ball go where it'll go, or simply having inefficient returns, have resulted in a huge microscope being placed on the Packers' decision to have the two rookies handle a key responsibility like this with not a lot of relief.
But, according to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, the team is staying the course with this plan on special teams - possibly due to the fact that their only two other options as punt returners are simply unavailable.
"The Packers drafted wide receiver Matthew Golden in the first round and he’s been the primary punt returner, in large part because wide receiver Jayden Reed broke his collarbone early in a Week 2 win over the Commanders. They selected wide receiver Savion Williams in the third round and he’s been the primary kick returner, replacing two-time first-team All-Pro Keisean Nixon, who has played about 99 percent of the defensive snaps at outside cornerback."
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The pairing isn't going to see their snaps as punt returners go down any time soon. Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia told reporters recently that, while there have been plays he'd like to get back, there's nothing to do on the Packers end other than wait for an eventual improvement from the two young receivers.
“Certainly those two players are young players, they’re extremely talented players, they’re diligent in what we’re asking them to do and they’re put in tough situations right now. One’s the kick returner replacing a guy that’s been pretty good on kickoff return for us. The other one’s a punt returner really because we lost J-Reed for a little while. We’re going to try to put those guys in the best position where they can help us and we’re going to go through some stuff with them. Hopefully, it will get less and less as the season goes on.”
It's far too early in the year to declare that Golden and Williams are just the wrong fit for this role. Both, especially Golden, have to get used to newer kickoff rules and handling them in general in the NFL. Golden never returned punts in college. Williams did, and he's still struggling to get into a good rhythm on special teams this season.
A bye week feels sorely needed for ironing out these kinks within the unit, and hopefully, Golden and Williams can clean things up significantly once Green Bay is back in Week 6 against the Cincinnati Bengals. If not, the Packers might need to seriously consider their options on the trade market in order to supplant Reed and Nixon's contributions.