Packers Rookie WR Malik Heath Breaks Through With Fresh Approach

Undrafted rookie receiver Malik Heath made the opening roster but quickly became an afterthought. What changed ahead of an eye-popping performance at Detroit?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers rookie receiver Malik Heath played 11 snaps against the Detroit Lions. He caught four passes.

“That’s a pretty good game,” Heath said with a laugh. “Eleven snaps and four catches, that’s crazy.”

Pretty crazy, indeed.

So is his rise, fall and rise.

Heath made the 53-man roster as an undrafted free agent following a superb training camp. Once the games were for real, Heath went from preseason hero to regular-season zero. He played 29 snaps against Chicago in Week 1 and a total of 21 snaps the following two weeks against Atlanta and New Orleans.

He didn’t catch any of the four passes thrown his way in those games, then was inactive the next four games. Back on the gameday roster against the Rams, he dropped his only opportunity, then played only three snaps the following week against Pittsburgh.

However, Heath’s play on the practice field vaulted him ahead of Samori Toure on the depth chart. After catching his first career pass for 7 yards in 15 snaps against the Chargers, Heath delivered an eye-popping stat line on Thanksgiving at Detroit. Of Heath’s 11 snaps, five came on passing plays. He was targeted four times and caught them all for 46 yards.

They weren’t easy plays, either. Among all receivers who played in Week 12, Heath and teammate Christian Watson ranked No. 1 with three contested catches, according to Pro Football Focus. He was No. 1 overall with 9.20 yards per route.

What happened?

“Had a great preseason and then played in the Chicago game,” position coach Jason Vrable said. “Those first couple weeks, he was mentally on a little bit of overload.”

So, Heath took a back-seat role for several weeks before Vrable thought it was time to give him another shot.

“We always say, can you take the practice reps to the game field?” Vrable said. “That’s what you’ve got to do. I think the pressure was off him. About two, three weeks ago, I brought up to Matt (LaFleur) in practice, ‘Hey, 18’s doing a heck of a job on special teams and making plays in practice.’ He was just catching everything and playing with confidence and smiling more.

“You could just feel, the beginning of the year, he kind of felt like the whole world was coming down on him if he made a mistake. And now, he’s like, ‘Let’s go get it.’ We brought it up as a staff to give him a shot again. It’s been awesome to see his growth this year.”

Heath agreed the mistakes were weighing him down.

“It’s just me. I don’t like messing up,” he said. “So, my mind just be stuck on the other play during the game, and it just rolled over to the next play and the next play when I was playing in the early parts of the season. Now, I just play.

“Vrable will say, ‘We’ll fix everything on Monday when we watch film. You don’t have to come to the sideline telling me you messed up or that you’re still stuck on the same play. We’re going to fix everything. Just go out there and play fast and be confident in your job.’ That’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been locked in more, studying. That’s the difference.”

Along with embracing a next-play mentality and his role on special teams – he had two tackles vs. the Chargers – the coaches have set him up for success by letting him know his role. He knows about how many snaps he’s going to play and what plays he’ll get when on the field.

“This is how I’m more locked in,” he said. “I study more. I was studying. Like, hours. I don’t go to sleep until about 12 every night. Studying, studying, studying. The coach said you don’t love football enough or you ain’t working hard or studying the playbook hard enough if you go to sleep before 12. So that’s just my mindset.”

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