THE FIRST EIGHT
fenses vertically. Randall Cobb, Davante Adams, Ty Montgomery and Jared Abbrederis offer little deep dimension on the outside, and it remains to be seen if speedsters Jeff Janis and Davis can make the team or win roles from scrimmage.
Green Bay’s passing game was a mix of dink-and-dunk, screens and botched catches. The wide receivers dropped 35 of 418 targeted throws, a drop rate of 8.37% that was the unit’s worst since the last year (1991) of the Lindy Infante era.
Jones, a nine-year veteran, Adams and others were too often tied up at the line against press coverage.
One of the disappointing players was Cobb, who was paid like an elite slot in March 2015 ($10 million a year) but didn’t play like it. In fact, he was more impressive in 77 snaps at running back.
“We’re going to win them this year, I can promise you that,” coach Mike McCarthy said in March of one-on-one matchups on the perimeter and in the slot. “We didn’t do a good enough job collectively getting that done last year, and we’ll learn from that.”
Given that Cobb dropped 14 passes in 2015 (most by a Green Bay receiver in more than 25 years), nine in ’14 and 10 in ’12, his hands and focus might not be good enough.
“As a receiver, (drops) are an important part of the game,” Getsy said. “He battled a lot of things last year. He was a warrior. I think he made a lot of plays for us that enabled us to win 10 games.”
One reason Cobb struggled is Adams had a tough year as Nelson’s replacement outside. At the end of 2015, Pro Football Focus ranked the 119 receivers that played at least 25% of their team’s snaps. Adams finished 118th. Adams caught 50 passes last year but averaged 9.7 yards per reception. The last time the Packers had a receiver with at least 25 receptions that finished with fewer yards per catch was Carlton Elliott in 1951 (9.1).
Adams dropped 12 of 96 passes thrown his way (12.5%). He averaged 3.0 yards after the catch. And no receiver with at least 50 receptions had fewer touchdowns than Adams (one).
NOTHING IS GUARANTEED
Now 31 and coming off a major injury, Nelson might never be the player he once was. But if he can come close to replicating his averages from 2011 to 2014 (75 catches, 1,210 yards, 11 touchdowns), it would be an enormous lift for quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay’s passing attack.
In June, Nelson said, “If there’s a game Sunday, I’m playing.” But it’s unclear whether the ultraconservative McCarthy and team doctors will give Nelson the green light early in training camp.
“I can’t sit here and say it’ll be an easy adjustment,” Nelson said of his return. “A couple years ago (2013), I missed pretty much 90% of training camp and came back a week before the regular season and had a good year.”
Getsy has plenty of options to help the passing attack get back on track. Now, it’s up to the group to produce.
“Last year was frustrating for a lot of us and for a lot of different reasons,” Montgomery says. “But I like where we’re headed right now.
“If we can get healthy, get everybody back, we’re going to do some big things.”
McGinn writes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Rob Reischel, a special correspondent for the Journal Sentinel, contributed to this report.