Every Team Has One Big Question, Including Packers

The Green Bay Packers' potentially fatal flaw is more obvious than the blemishes of their main NFC rivals, the Buccaneers, Rams and 49ers.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Because of the salary cap, no NFL team is perfect. Every team has holes – including the Green Bay Packers.

The 33rd Team, the site started by former NFL executives Mike Tannenbaum and Joe Banner, came up with one “burning question” for every team.

For the Packers, their fatal flaw is more obvious than those of their main NFC rivals, the Buccaneers, Rams and 49ers.

With talent, experience and chemistry combining to lift two great players to even greater heights, Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams were practically unstoppable. The last six seasons, no receiver caught more passes or recorded more receiving yards than Adams. In fact, Adams had nine more touchdown catches than any other receiver over that span.

With Adams doing most of the damage, the trio of Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown combined to catch 313 passes and score 39 touchdowns the last two seasons. Adams is on a Hall of Fame trajectory and Valdes-Scantling was one of the NFL’s top deep threats.

Is the new group of receivers, led by returning veterans Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, hungry veteran Sammy Watkins, and rookies Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure, capable of picking up the baton?

“Putting faith in Aaron Rodgers and an increasingly stacked defense is a sound strategy for a Packers team that will be expected to cruise to another NFC North title,” wrote The 33rd Team’s Nicholas McGee. “However, Rodgers’ pass-catching options are the worst he has had for some time following the trade of Davante Adams.”

Will Rodgers, the four-time MVP, be that rising tide that lifts all boats?

After all, coach Matt LaFleur isn’t going to quit dialing up passing plays just because Adams is with the Raiders.

“I talked to the guys,” receivers coach and passing game coordinator Jason Vrable said at the start of OTAs. “I said, ‘Look at all the balls that went to ‘Tae.’ I talked to them, I said, ‘Look at the opportunity that is ahead of you. 12’s a Hall of Famer. He’s throwing the ball to somebody. Who’s going to take that No. 1 spot that we were just talking about?’ We play three guys a lot of times and I’m like, ‘There’s three No. 1 spots, so who’s going to take it?’

The offseason program will end with voluntary organized team activities this week. Rodgers won’t be there. When the players convene for training camp in late July, practices against the premier cornerback trio of Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas and Eric Stokes and the preseason games will determine whether the Packers go with that they’ve got or try to make a splash signing.

Odell Beckham and Julio Jones are among the veteran options available. Beckham suffered a torn ACL in the Super Bowl and won’t be ready to return to action until late in the season. When he’s ready, he will survey the suitors and pick his landing spot. A more immediate possibility would be Julio Jones. While the 33-year-old has played in 19 of a possible 33 games the past two seasons, he spent time in Atlanta with LaFleur and would come with an immediate feel for the offensive scheme.

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