The Green Bay Packers have had a year full of growing pains, as the team holds the youngest team in the entire NFL. Despite the growing pains, the Packers still remain in striking distance of the playoffs with a 6-7 record and a favorable remaining schedule . The headliner of those growing pains has mainly been first year starter, Jordan Love. Love has had up and down performances all year but has shown plenty of flashes to keep Packers fans beyond excited.
While everyone has been discussing Jordan Love, there has been another player who has been showing traits of stardom early in his career. That player comes at the wide receiver position. Many believe I may be referring to second year North Dakota State product, Christian Watson. While Watson has shown elite traits early in his career as well, the continued struggles of staying healthy prohibits me from giving him this title. The title of who I believe has the potential to become the next superstar receiver for the Packers is no one other than the rookie, Jayden Reed.
Green Bay Packers’ Prize Possession
Reed was a player I was very excited about when the Packers drafted him in the second round this past April. An excellent all around player throughout his college career at Western Michigan and Michigan State has brought those skills to the Packer’s offense. Reed has shown the ability to track the ball deep and use his shifty speed in the open field to create big plays for the offense.
While Reed may seem like a gadget player for the team to some with having a lot of jet sweeps and run plays designed for him, my argument for that is why would you not want to give the ball to your best playmakers as often as possible… And that is exactly what the Packers have been doing. Reed has been doing a little bit of everything this season and continuing to develop into a game wrecker. The rookie receiver in 13 games has put together 48 receptions on 74 targets with 540 receiving yards and 5 receiving touchdowns. In the rushing game Reed has 11 attempts for 119 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns.
Does size matter?
While Jayden Reed does not possess the superstar “x” wide receiver position size of 6’2 to 6’3, a lot of NFL superstars are not these big alpha sized receivers in statue. The NFL is starting to shift to smaller statued receivers as the ideal stars in this league who can be reliable and dominant options on the offenses of NFL teams. The average size of NFL wide receivers is actually around the size of Jayden Reed, according to horton bar bell.
Comparison
A player like Stefon Diggs reminds me a lot of Jayden Reed from when Stefon’s career was just starting in Minnesota. They both featured that twitchy speed in the open field and the desire to become great. Not to mention they are a similar size. Player Profiler, a great resource for analyzing players entering the league, gave a comparison of college production and metrics to Diggs. For more in-depth analysis on the comparison from Player Profiler, click here.
Back the Pack
While Jayden Reed may not ever reach the lofty expectations I am projecting he can become, Reed is going to be an impact player for the Packers for quite some time. Reed and Love are developing together which is going to be exciting to watch iunfold. Many fans have been wanting the Packers to attack drafting young skill players early in the draft the last few years and now look at the list of young talent Love is working with:
- Christian Watson WR, 24 years old
- Jayden Reed WR, 23 years old
- Romeo Doubs WR, 23 years old
- Dontayvion Wicks WR, 22 years old
- Tucker Kraft TE, 23 years old
- Luke Musgrave TE, 23 years old
Back the Pack and continue to enjoy the fun of watching the development of a young group of players. Jayden Reed could become one of those guys the Packers can develop into an absolute gem and become the next great second round wide receiver for the Packers!
