Green Bay Packers Aren't Getting Most out of Young Offensive Weapons

Given the way the Green Bay Packers have been playing on offense over the last three weeks—in which they've added their only three losses of the season onto their 6-3 record—the team should be ready to do whatever it takes to kickstart the sluggish unit. 

Head coach Mike McCarthy has made it clear that he won't be resuming play-calling duties, but there are countless other changes the team can make to improve the unit. 

Using more man-beater routes, utilizing max protection schemes to give quarterback Aaron Rodgers more time in the pocket, running the no-huddle more frequently and, of course, getting the most out of their young offensive weapons are all among them. 

The unit's inability to do the latter has been especially perplexing this season. The Packers have six wide receivers and three tight ends on the active roster, yet the snap count suggests otherwise. 

Player	Games	Snaps	Snaps per Game	Targets
Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
James Jones	9	571	63.4	35
Randall Cobb	9	568	63.1	74
Davante Adams	6	334	55.6	48
Ty Montgomery	6	249	41.5	18
Jeff Janis	9	79	8.8	3
Jared Abbrederis	5	29	5.8	6
Richard Rodgers	9	487	54.1	47
Andrew Quarless (IR/Return)	3	58	19.3	2
Justin Perillo	4	38	9.5	9
Kennard Backman	2	7	3.5	0

Rodgers should not be targeting one receiver—second-year player Davante Adams—21 times in one game, but that's exactly what happened in Week 10 against the Detroit Lions. Rodgers went to Adams twice as often as any other pass-catcher, and Adams brought in 10 of those targets for 79 yards. 

It was part of what made the offense one-dimensional against Detroit, and if the Packers were looking for the refs to interfere, they didn't.

Detroit's Nevin Lawson won his matchup against Adams, allowing six receptions on 14 targets into his coverage, per Pro Football Focus, while Adams dropped two of those targets. 

Veterans Randall Cobb and James Jones each had one dropped pass, as well, and were essentially shut down on Sunday.

Jones, shadowed all afternoon by Detroit's Darius Slay, did not catch either of the two balls thrown his way, while Cobb caught only half his targets for five receptions overall. Cobb was the victim of the Lions' press coverage by Josh Wilson and Quandre Diggs. 

In fact, the biggest signs of life on the Packers offense came by way of two players who, until Sunday, had not contributed much on the season: receiver Jared Abbrederis and tight end Justin Perillo. 

Perillo had the second-most yards of all Rodgers' weapons on the day, with 58, and a touchdown, easily winning MVP of the pass-catching group. He exhibited good hands, with no drops, and caught five of the six balls thrown his way, demonstrating a solid chemistry with Rodgers. 

So where has he been this whole time?

To be fair to the coaching staff, the Packers only signed Perillo to the active roster in mid-October, but he had just one reception against Denver and none against Carolina. Should he have been introduced into the mix sooner?

Ben Fennell of NFL Network demonstrated how Perillo found success on a vertical seam route, an element that has been missing from the Packers offense this season as the team struggles with the deep ball. More of that might have been nice in the last three weeks. 

Then there was Abbrederis, who finally earned his long-awaited first NFL reception on Sunday. After missing his rookie season with a torn ACL and then suffering a concussion during training camp in 2015, Abbrederis was a casualty of final roster cuts and landed on the practice squad.

After being recalled to the active roster in early October, Abbrederis has been warming the bench, much to the chagrin of those who saw what he can do when he was in college at the University of Wisconsin.

In an admittedly small sample size, Abbrederis delivered on the draft hype about his solid hands and ability to stem his routes against Detroit. He caught four passes for 57 yards, including one explosive 32-yard reception down the right sideline. 

Unfortunately, Abbrederis injured his rib on that play and came out of the game, depriving the team of the opportunity to see what else he could do.

But his production through his mere 19 snaps begs the question of why he had to wait until Week 10 for his first career reception when he joined the active roster on Oct. 3. 

There's no timetable on how many games Abbrederis will miss, if any. The receiver wouldn't confirm that his ribs were broken, as ESPN's Rob Demovsky reported. 

But the Packers clearly need to get him involved more in the future, health willing. 

There is an impression in Green Bay that Rodgers has been holding the ball too long because he doesn't trust his receivers, but he is also dealing with the issue of his top targets—Cobb, Adams, Jones—being unable to beat press coverage and get open. 

Introducing new weapons into the mix gives the offense an edge and better allows Rodgers to find an open target, especially if the coaching staff is throwing slants, screens and seam routes into the mix. 

And for his part, Rodgers sounds more than ready to see more of his young weapons on the field, especially given the drops that have become unacceptably common among his veteran targets. (Cobb has five drops on the season, per Pro Football Focus, while Adams has four and Jones, two.)

"I think it’s about getting your best guys on the field and trying to find a way to get them the ball," Rodgers said after the game, per Demovsky. 

It's not entirely apparent that has been the case so far this season, given the snap counts from above. 

Rodgers continued:

"

Jared has earned some opportunities. He did a nice job for us. Justin did a nice job for us as well, made some plays. Just get those guys in good positions and try to be effective. If teams are going to continue to load the box up and dare us to throw the ball with some one-high press [coverage], we’ve got to convert.

"

Then there's the question of Jeff Janis, the second-year player and former seventh-round pick who has speed for days but clearly hasn't passed muster with the coaching staff, Rodgers—or both. 

But at a certain point, perhaps the Packers need to introduce a new element into the mix—especially if what they've done in the last three weeks continues not to work.

Perhaps Janis is a poor route-runner. Perhaps Rodgers doesn't trust his hands. But his speed and ability to create separation are badly needed on this offense and would really stretch the field for the Packers. 

Especially while talented rookie Ty Montgomery is out, why not trot Janis out there on a couple plays and see what happens?

McCarthy acknowledged Monday that Janis is still developing, as the Packers are asking him to do things that he didn't do in college at Saginaw Valley State, as Lance Allan of TMJ4 reported. 

"Everything we need to do, we have the people in the locker room to do it," head coach Mike McCarthy said after the game, per Vic Ketchman of Packers.com.

"We left big opportunities on the field. We have to win those one-on-ones at a higher efficiency. Coaching wise, we have to get it out of our players."

Perhaps the coaching staff needs to reevaluate how often it's using the members of that locker room.

No one would advocate for Cobb or Adams coming off the field, but mixing in players who have seen little playing time to date this season in Abbrederis, Perillo and Janis could be the spark this sluggish offense needs. Then, calling more routes designed to beat man coverage will help those weapons find success.