Packer Central

Lazard Before No. 1 Debut: ‘Doubted My Whole Life’

Allen Lazard has gone from undrafted free agent to the practice squad to the Green Bay Packers’ No. 1 receiver. He will play on Sunday night against the Chicago Bears.

Bill Huber

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Now is the time for Green Bay Packers receiver Allen Lazard. He has embraced replacing Davante Adams as the No. 1 receiver. With Lazard set to make his season debut on Sunday night, is there pressure to perform?

“Nope,” he said this week.

A former undrafted free agent, Lazard is one of the more unlikely top receivers in the league. He is eager to show he’s one of the NFL’s best receivers and not just the best of the team’s remaining receivers. After missing the Week 1 loss to Minnesota with an ankle injury, he will be active and in the lineup against the Chicago Bears, a source said in confirming a late-night report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“I’ve always taken ownership in whatever work I’ve been doing,” he said. “This is obviously my job, playing receiver here, and I’ve taken ownership for the room, so regardless of who we’ve had in the room the past few years, I’ve always taken complete ownership. Whether it was me out there on the field or not, those guys are a reflection of me because they’re putting on the same uniform that I am, from that regard. So, yeah, I just plan on going out there, playing to the best of my ability and doing what I can to help the team win.”

Lazard has never lacked confidence in his ability to be a top receiver, even if that belief wasn’t shared by anyone else. In 2018, despite a record-setting career at Iowa State, Lazard went undrafted. With the Jacksonville Jaguars, he failed to make their roster and spent most of the season on their practice squad before the Packers poached him late in the year. In 2019, despite a strong camp, Lazard failed to make Green Bay’s roster.

Lazard’s confidence wasn’t broken, even after that unspoken, “You’re not good enough” being delivered again and again by NFL talent evaluators.

“I feel like I’ve been doubted my whole life, whether it’s been high school, college, here obviously, in different regards of life, as well,” he said. “I don’t take the outside noise and digest it from that sense. I’ve always just focused on myself and tried to develop to be the best version of myself.”

In 2019, Lazard spent only a few days on Green Bay’s practice squad before being promoted to the 53-man roster before the start of the regular season. He didn’t play, though, at least not right away. During the first five games of the season, Lazard played only 21 snaps and wasn’t targeted in the passing game. His butt was glued to the bench for the Week 6 game against Detroit, too, until quarterback Aaron Rodgers, desperate to jump-start a struggling offense, convinced the coaches to put Lazard in the game. In 17 snaps, he caught 4-of-5 passes for 65 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown to help save the Packers from an embarrassing loss.

The rest is history. Lazard caught 35 passes for 477 yards and three touchdowns in 2020 and 33 passes for 451 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games in 2020. That set the stage for last season. In 15 games, he caught 40 passes for 513 yards and eight touchdowns. He was one of the league’s hottest receivers down the stretch.

Now, Lazard has assumed the mantle of top dog in the receiver room, both by deed and by word.

“I’ve been a No. 1 receiver my whole life until I came into the NFL, so I don’t know why I would change my mental view from that standpoint, just because I got to the league and there’s other guys around here,” Lazard said. “Now, from a depth chart standpoint, obviously it’s been different and more clear, but that shouldn’t change my mentality, I feel like, as far as how I go about my business.”

While Lazard’s circumstances have changed, the mind-set entering Sunday night will not. This is a big game for the team, having lost last week, and the start of a big season for Lazard, who will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. But Lazard is confident in his ability, even if nobody else was a few years ago. Does he have a lot to prove? Maybe not everyone else.

“I’m going to go into this game the same way I have the past few years,” he said. “Obviously, a first game itself is a little bit more emotions and higher energy and everything, just because I haven’t played in a preseason game and all that good stuff. But I’ve been in this league for so long, I’ve been here for the Packers for so long, we’re playing here at Lambeau, it’s just a nostalgic feeling going out there and everything. I know what needs to take place when I step on that field at Lambeau. It’ll just be about getting my mental right and going out there and executing.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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