Jordan Love’s emergence as the Green Bay Packers’ future top franchise quarterback was highlighted by his young receiver’s impressive performance in 2023.
Rookie Jaden Reed led the Packers in receiving, while Christian Watson and Romeo Dubs made big strides in their second NFL seasons. But down the stretch and into the postseason, fifth-round pick Dontayvion Weeks has become one of Love’s favorite targets.”Wicks had one of the best yards in the NFL,” Thomas Valentine wrote for PFF.
“He’s showing his true potential as a player with the ball in his hands. He averaged 5.6 yards per reception this season, 19th in the NFL.Pro Football Focus named Wicks the Packers “secret superstar” heading into the 2023 campaign. “The Packers’ young front office exceeded all expectations in 2023,” Valentine wrote.
“Besides Jordan Love and Wicks, it was amazing to see them so aggressive. The fifth-round pick caught 39 passes for 581 yards and four touchdowns, earning a 77.8 PFF grade and ranking 26th among all NFL receivers.
Love’s faith in Wicks was easy to see throughout the season, with the first-year quarterback posting a 117.6 passer rating on 57 targets as a receiver.With Weeks’ rookie season a harbinger of things to come, and the release of Dubs and Watson as Love’s first full season as starters, the Packers’ receiving corps could be on the verge of one of their most productive periods. history.
N.F.L. When the Dubs and Watson were hurt in 2023, they had Dontayvion Weeks.Weeks then played a key role in the Packers’ tight end, capitalizing on the strong chemistry he built with Love throughout the season. In Green Bay’s last five games, including two postseason games, Weeks has caught 16 passes for 212 yards and four touchdowns.”Before last year’s Senior Bowl,
I said UVA’s Dontayvion Weeks was the best combination of size and athleticism in the game,” Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy tweeted on Jan. 7. “Today’s two tattoo shows were no fluke. Packers love Wicks’ upside.”Skills of the week and strong finish could set the stage for an even stronger run in 2024.
Wicks and the Packers’ young receivers are just one of the many reasons there’s a lot of optimism surrounding Green Bay in 2024.After gaining significant playoff experience and beating the Dallas Cowboys and knocking off the No. 1 seed San Francisco 49ers, the Packers are generating Super Bowl buzz heading into their second season of to Love. Aaron Jones isn’t holding back on his high expectations for 2024.
“I feel like what I’m doing here is special,” Jones told Larry McCarren of Packers.com. “You can feel it, you can see it. chemistry. Top. These are the standards we set. I think the standards we’ve set will give us an idea of what our expectations will be when we come back next year.
Our standards are high. We’ve shown this year we can do it, we’ve shown every game we can put it together, so there’s no reason why we can’t reach that standard every day. We’re going to be dangerous and we’re going to be special.”Despite injuries during the 2023 season, Jones rushed for 656 yards with two touchdowns in 11 games. He believes the Packers are poised to make even bigger strides next season.
“This is a special team, a special group of people,” Jones said. “We are building something special here. We lived up to our expectations. No one thought we would progress to the play-offs, let alone the second round of the play-offs. “It was a big building block for us.”
