The Green Bay Packers missed the playoffs for the first time in Matt LaFleur’s tenure as head coach. While there are a few reasons as to why the team, particularly the offense, under-performed in 2022, one major reason was the tight end play. While Marcedes Lewis continued to shine as a “bonus offensive lineman,” Robert Tonyan did not seem to come back into form until late in the season. Of course, this is due to the fact he was working his way back from a torn ACL.
During the NFL’s divisional round of the playoffs, tight ends such as Dalton Schultz of the Dallas Cowboys and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs made big plays for their teams. Their performances led Packers fans to debate the Packers’ tight end situation on social media.
Tight Ends Performed Well in the Divisional Round
Travis Kelce had 14 receptions for 98 yards and two touchdowns in the Chiefs’ 27-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Dallas Goedert had five receptions for 58 yards and a touchdown for the Philadelphia Eagles in their dominating win over the New York Giants. Dawson Knox, the Buffalo Bills’ tight end, was their leading receiver (five receptions for 65 yards) in their loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaking of the Bengals, their tight end, Hayden Hurst, had five receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown. In the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys game, both teams had important contributions from their tight ends. George Kittle had five receptions for 95 yards for the 49ers while Dalton Schultz had five receptions for 27 yards and a touchdown.
Packers Fans React to Tight End Performances
Clearly, in order to make it into and go deep in the NFL playoffs, teams need to have good tight ends. As mentioned before, Lewis was a great blocker for the Packers, but has not been a threat in the passing game for years. Also as mentioned earlier, Tonyan did not really return to the kind of form he had in 2020 until late in the season. Now, with both players entering free agency, Packers fans took notice of how other teams’ tight ends played and were quick to compare them to their own tight ends:
neither Robert Tonyan nor Marcedes Lewis could do that if you gave them 100 tries each, but football is about relationships yeah
— Grant Bilse (@WiscoGrant) January 23, 2023
I completely agree and I also wonder if Tonyan was playing less than 100% all season long. I say you let him test free agency and bring back the best offer. If it's too much then great for Tonyan! If it's reasonable then bring him back and draft one. I also want Big Dawg back
— Packers Total Access- Clayton (@packers_access) January 22, 2023
Me: "Everyone of these playoff teams have great TEs and Green Bay needs to address it"
Them: "Of course Kelce is great captain obvious" TD
"Tonyan is better than Hurst" TD
"That was more scheme than player" TD
Annnnnnnnnndddd right on time pic.twitter.com/01Alc4pRHn
— Packers Total Access- Clayton (@packers_access) January 23, 2023
If Rodgers returns, it wouldn't be surprising if the Packers TE room in 2023 looks exactly like 2022. Marcedes/Tonyan return, Josiah as the H-back and Tyler Davis as the special teamer. Maybe a rookie?
— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) January 18, 2023
Green Bay has many questions going into 2023, and tight end is just one of them. It will be interesting to see if they draft one high in the draft, re-sign Lewis and/or Tonyan, and explore the free agent market.
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