Injuries Could Leave Packers With Impossibly Young Receiver Corps

With Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson battling hamstring injuries, the Green Bay Packers could face the Chicago Bears with a receiver corps that has caught five passes in the NFL.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have the youngest receiver corps in the NFL. That’s nothing compared to the group that Jordan Love could be throwing to for Sunday’s season-opening game at the Chicago Bears.

With Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs missing Wednesday’s practice with hamstring injuries, the Packers potentially will have only one receiver on the field who’s played in a regular-season game.

That would be Samori Toure. In 11 games and 112 snaps as a rookie last year, Toure caught five passes for 82 yards and one touchdown.

And that’s it. The other receivers on the 53-man roster:

- Jayden Reed, a second-round pick this year.

- Dontayvion Wicks, a fifth-round pick this year.

- Malik Heath, an undrafted rookie this year.

On the practice squad:

- Bo Melton, a seventh-round pick by Seattle last year who didn’t play as a rookie.

- Grant DuBose, a seventh-round pick by Green Bay this year who didn’t make the opening roster.

And if that’s not enough, Wicks suffered a hamstring injury in the second preseason game and returned to practice on Wednesday, and Melton missed the final two preseason games with a hamstring injury and returned to practice last week.

Added together, even if Doubs and Watson are available, the receiver corps is incredibly inexperienced with just 88 receptions on the ledger. If Doubs and Watson aren’t available, the receiver corps is short on numbers, experience and production.

For context: new Bears receiver D.J. Moore played in 80 games for the Panthers. He had at least Toure’s career total of five catches in 39 of them.

“It is what it is,” coach Matt LaFleur said after Wednesday’s practice. “But, you know, we’re excited. We’ve got a plan in place, and we’ll play the guys that are available and ready to go.

Samori Toure (Photo by Sarah Kloepping/USA Today Sports Images)

“The one thing about this league is nobody cares. You’ve got to find a way to get it done, and I think our guys have taken that mindset no matter who’s out there. The expectations remain the same, and that is to go out there and play winning football. So, we’ll get our guys ready to go.”

If there’s a saving grace, it’s that Love took a considerable number of first-team reps with Reed, Toure, Heath and even Wicks between his early-camp concussion and late-camp hamstring.

“Obviously, it’d be tough,” Love said, “but I think we have a good stack up through camp and OTAs of getting reps.”

Toure, the old man of the group at the age of 25, said he’s playing with a lot more confidence than a year ago, when he caught only one pass over the final eight games, thanks in large part to experience and comfort with the scheme.

“Just playing faster, being more prepared and knowing the playbook inside and out,” Toure said. “Being able to play any position they need me to on the field. I feel like I’m a lot more prepared and the game has slowed down a lot for me this last year.”

The one player who’s not really affected by the potential absences of Watson and Doubs is Reed. He’d been the No. 1 option in the slot for most of training camp and took advantage of all the opportunities to cement his status as one of the team’s premier players.

Reed grew up in the Chicago area and dreamed of playing for the Bears. Legendary returner/receiver Devin Hester was Reed’s favorite player growing up. Now, Reed will have a key role – perhaps even a huge role – when these longtime rivals kick off the season in a few days.

“We’re just preparing for everything,” he said. “I’m just ready to go out there, just display what I can do, put it on film and show what we’ve got and put it all together as a team.”

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