Romeo Doubs Returning to Packers After Suspension

The Packers suspended receiver Romeo Doubs for the victory at the Rams for “conduct detrimental to the team.” After meeting with coach Matt LaFleur on Monday, the expectation is he will practice on Wednesday.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs (87) leaps to celebrate a touchdown against the Rams last season. / William Glasheen / USA TODAY NETWORK

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are welcoming Romeo Doubs back into the fold after last week’s suspension, coach Matt LaFleur said at Lambeau Field on Monday, a day after a come-from-behind victory at the Los Angeles Rams.

LaFleur and Doubs met at Lambeau on Monday.

“I’m not going to get into the specifics of it, but I think it was productive and we look forward to getting him back on Wednesday,” LaFleur said.

Doubs was suspended for Sunday’s game for what was termed “conduct detrimental to the team.” Unhappy with his role in the offense, Doubs skipped practices on Thursday and Friday, Packers On SI reported on Friday.

“What’s done is done,” LaFleur said when asked if he knew that Doubs was unhappy. “We’re moving forward. I expect us collectively as a team to continue to move that way.”

Doubs is not a multiple-time offender, LaFleur said, lending confidence that the incident will be put behind him and a championship-contending team and its playmaking receiver can move on together.

“It’s a pretty isolated incident,” LaFleur said. “This has not happened with him before and I don’t expect it to happen moving forward.”

The Packers beat the Rams without Doubs 24-19, but it wasn’t easy. While Jayden Reed had his typical game with four receptions for 78 yards, Dontayvion Wicks (two catches, 20 yards), Malik Heath (two catches, 14 yards) and Bo Melton (one catch, 12 yards) combined to catch 5-of-12 targeted passes for 46 yards.

Doubs had a monster playoffs last year, with six catches for 151 yards and one touchdown at Dallas and four receptions for 83 yards at San Francisco. Those were his highest and third-highest yardage outputs of his career.

It’s been a relatively slow start to this season with 12 receptions for 169 yards and zero touchdowns in his first four games, though two of those games were played without injured Jordan Love. His 20 targets during those games were only two less than Reed and Wicks.

One of the top red-zone threats in the NFL last year, he had only three targets in the first four games.

Between the limited production to start this season and what he deemed a limited role in the game plan for the Rams, Doubs did not show up at the facility on Thursday. After he didn’t practice on Friday, the Packers suspended him on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, we had to make the difficult decision to suspend Romeo for this week's game,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said in a statement. “His decisions and actions during the week negatively impacted the team and required us to take this action.

“While we are certainly disappointed, we are confident that we will be able to move forward in a positive manner. Romeo is a valuable member of our team and we look forward to welcoming him back next week.”

The “look forward to welcoming him back next week” was verbatim the words used upon suspending Jaire Alexander late last season following his self-appointed captaincy at Carolina.

Alexander is a premier cornerback and a vital part of the defense. Not that Doubs isn’t a vital part of the offense, but he plays in a strong position group that limited opportunities for players last year - no receiver had even 800 receiving yards last year - and is again this year.

So, LaFleur might face a delicate situation in keeping Doubs - and everyone - happy.

“I think one thing you totally respect about everybody is everybody has their own goals and aspirations and wants, but you’ve just got to try to continue to keep it under what’s best for our team, and ultimately our job is to win football games,” LaFleur said. 

“We’re fortunate we have a lot of players we have a lot of confidence in, specifically on the offensive side of the ball in regards to trying to get everybody involved. It’s a good problem to have, but it could potentially be a problem if you let it be. I think for the most part, our guys have done a really good job of just putting the team first. We’re going to continue to stress that, and hopefully they buy into that.”

On Monday, the Packers released cornerback Robert Rochell. Presumably, that roster spot will go to Doubs, who remains on the team’s suspended list.

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