The spotlight shines brightly on Matthew Golden, Christian Watson, and Jayden Reed, and understandably so, but there's another Green Bay Packers wide receiver everyone is forgetting about.
Enter Dontayvion Wicks.
The third-year pro is like a sleeping star with all-world potential. When he wakes, the league won't be ready.
Rewind only one year, and Packers fans nicknamed him Davantayvion Wicks for his smooth route-running that closely resembled a certain former No. 17. Even Matt LaFleur compared Wicks to Davante Adams.
Wicks struggled in his second year, particularly with drops. Per Pro Football Focus, his nine drops tied for the seventh-most in the league.
But if we're in the business of giving up on players after a sophomore slump, Adams would never have reached stardom. He, too, struggled to catch the football in Year 2, with Pro Football Focus crediting him with a career-worst 10 drops in 2015. A vocal minority of Packers fans called for the team to cut Adams in favor of Jeff Janis, a stance that could hold its own section on Freezing Cold Takes.
Wicks' career has followed the Adams arc to this point. It's unfair to compare him to a six-time Pro Bowler, as that sets the expectations at a ridiculously high level, but Wicks is being overlooked.
Dontayvion Wicks could be a surprise star for the Packers in his third season
While Wicks struggled with drops, he did almost everything else at a high level. That's what made it so frustrating.
He makes the hard part look easy by consistently beating his defender and getting open.
According to Pro Football Focus, Wicks ranked second in the entire NFL last season for separation percentage, a metric that "measures how often a receiver beats the coverage to get open."
Turn on a Packers game, and you'll notice Wicks' impressive release and polished route-running. He gets open consistently. Finishing the play by making the catch is where he failed last season.
It's why Jordan Love never lost faith in him. In the Week 4 loss to the Minnesota Vikings last season, Wicks dropped two touchdowns but still finished the day with five catches for 78 yards and two scores. Love kept targeting him, and eventually Wicks made it count.
He undoubtedly needs to fix that area of his game and find the consistency Adams did in his third season, but we shouldn't give up on Wicks yet. We've seen enough of Wicks' best to understand his upside. There's a reason why many believed he would enjoy a breakout season in 2024.
While everyone is understandably focused on Golden's arrival, Reed's potential, and Watson's eventual return, the NFL world is sleeping on Wicks.
That's a mistake. The breakout is coming.