Report: 'Some Believe' Packers WR Allen Lazard 'Intends' to Join Broncos in 2023

Is a reunion with Nathaniel Hackett feasible?

A new rumor has linked the Denver Broncos to the future acquisition of Packers wide receiver Allen Lazard.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reported Tuesday that "some believe" Lazard — a restricted free agent who's yet to sign his tender — "intends" to play out the 2022 campaign in Green Bay and, then unrestricted, sign with Broncos next offseason.

Florio went so far as to say the 26-year-old "could be destined for Denver."

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A decorated collegian at Iowa State, Lazard went undrafted in 2018 and has been buried in obscurity with the Packers, stuck behind the likes of Davante Adams, Marquez Valdez-Scantling, and Randall Cobb. Adams and Valdez-Scantling are gone, but now he must fend off veteran free-agent pickup Sammy Watkins and second-round rookie Christian Watson.

Such might explain his current contract stalemate, as Lazard would earn $3.986 million on the RFA tender.

"It’s unclear whether the Packers are inclined to try to sign him to an extension. ... It’s also unclear whether he’d even want one at this point," Florio wrote.

Six-foot-five with 4.55 speed, Lazard has tallied 109 career receptions for 1,448 yards (13.3 yards per catch) and 14 touchdowns, slowly but surely earning the trust — and respect — of four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

“He’s a great human, he really is,” Rodgers said in January. “He’s a big-hearted, caring guy who really cares about his craft and improving. He does all the little things and doesn’t have an overpowering ego. He has a very healthy ego.”

Although Lazard is an ascending talent, his purported interest in following Nathaniel Hackett to Denver may prove unrequited. If there's a position the Broncos don't need to address, it's a receiving corps dominated by Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Jerry Jeudy, and KJ Hamler, all of whom are signed through 2023.

If the club decides to trade, say, Jeudy in the coming months or Lazard is willing to accept a bottom-shelf offer (and role), perhaps fantasy becomes reality.

However, at this juncture, neither scenario appears terribly likely.

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