Getty Amari Rodgers #8 of the Green Bay Packers works out during training camp at Ray Nitschke Field on June 08, 2021 in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin.
The Green Bay Packers don’t seem as worried about wide receiver Amari Rodgers as their fanbase does ahead of his second season in the NFL.
Rodgers — a 2021 third-round pick — had a disappointing first season in the league that saw him play just 10% of offensive snaps and catch four passes for 45 yards across 16 games. He also struggled with his primary role as the Packers’ punt returner, casting doubt on his overall potential and long-term future with the team.
If what wide receivers coach Jason Vrable has been seeing — and hearing — about Rodgers is true, though, then it could be a big second year for the young receiver.
“His route-running is already cleaner and crisper,” Vrable said during his press conference on Thursday, May 19. “I feel really good about Amari. (Randall Cobb) bumped me the other day and was like ‘Yo, you can feel it from him.’ And I just smiled and was like, ‘It’s just the start right now.’ We’ll see where he’s at when the pads come on and the lights go on.”
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Rodgers’ Targets Were Limited in 2021
There was a good amount of excitement surrounding Rodgers when the Packers moved up to get him in the 2021 NFL draft. Green Bay had ignored the receiver position in the previous two drafts and Rodgers was a versatile slot weapon who delivered a 1,000-yard season in his final season at Clemson and seemed to fit Matt LaFleur’s system. Alas, there were a few rookie bumps along the way both in and out of his control.
The first complication for Rodgers was the return of Cobb via preseason trade. While Cobb is someone who Rodgers has known for a long time and respects as a mentor, he is also a veteran slot receiver who was understandably going to take away some of the potential reps Rodgers could have gotten as a rookie. By the end of the 2021 season, Cobb had played 371 snaps and caught 28 of his 39 targets over 12 games, while Rodgers had played on just 103 snaps and been targetted just eight times.
Vrable, however, doesn’t think Cobb’s presence is enough of an excuse.
“I don’t give Amari the out that (Cobb) was here,” Vrable said. “It’s your job to beat Randall out or beat our Z out. Even though he plays slot, I’ve got him working out at Z and he’s done that before. His performance just wasn’t on their level. That’s just the reality of it, right? It wasn’t that he was bad, but he wasn’t doing the high-level things that Randall was doing or the Z, Lazard.”
The Packers might not have given Rodgers many looks as a receiver, but he had ample opportunity to earn his stripes for the team as their primary punt returner and often looked nervous or lost handling those responsibilities. He finished his season with an average of 8.3 yards on 20 punt returns and muffed numerous punts, forcing the team to experiment with alternate returners such as Malik Taylor and David Moore.
All in all, Rodgers didn’t put a whole lot of encouraging things on his rookie tape, and that’s not a great thing for his long-term future.
More Potential Exists for Rodgers in 2022
Rodgers might not have offered much promise during his rookie year, but there are still reasons to think he could turn around his luck in 2022 — primarily because the Packers have more than a few questions to answer about their receiving corps.
The Packers lost both Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling from last year’s roster and are left with Allen Lazard and Cobb as their top two returning receivers. While they did sign Sammy Watkins and drafted three rookies, they are all going to have to go through a proving ground in training camp to prove who belongs. For someone like Rodgers who is coming off a rough first season, there could be no better time to wipe the slate clean and show he is ready to take on more responsibility.
Rodgers will also be working with a new special teams coordinator in Rich Bisaccia. A new relationship could work to his benefit if Bisaccia holds no preconceived biases or recognizes untapped potential in Rodgers’ speed and elusiveness. And yet, Rodgers’ previous coordinator, Maurice Drayton, showed a lot of patience with him during his rookie season and often defended him against calls for him to be replaced. Maybe Bisaccia is willing to do the same, but Rodgers is going to have to earn it.