Packers Linked to 5-Time Pro-Bowl Slot Wide Receiver

The Green Bay Packers lay claim to a young and exciting wide receiver group that is entirely devoid of experience and could desperately use a veteran presence.

Field Yates of ESPN suggested on Wednesday, June 21, that the franchise supplement its corps of youthful wideout talent with free agent Jarvis Landry, most recently of the New Orleans Saints.

“The Jordan Love and youth movements are on in Green Bay in the post-[Aaron] Rodgers era, with the team investing five draft picks on wide receivers and tight ends in April. I’m already getting excited about this offense’s potential,” Yates wrote. “I understand that very few veteran pass-catchers available right now have a chance to be a major impact player on the field, but I do think there is a spot for a player who brings leadership qualities to make his mark. As an example, while the team might want as many snaps for the youngsters who can play in the slot as possible, I do think Jarvis Landry’s presence would bring instant lessons in preparation that would pay off.”

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Past His Prime, Jarvis Landry Can Still Offer Needed Elements to Packers Offense

A Pro Bowler in five consecutive seasons during a run split between the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, the 30-year-old Landry is no longer the go-to option he once was. That said, he’s a sure-handed leader who can still be counted on to make plays in big spots — say, for instance, on 3rd-down with five yards to gain while lined up on the 50-yard line of the Minnesota Vikings‘ U.S. Bank Stadium come Week 17 this December.

More importantly, though, Landry can prepare a player like rookie Jayden Reed to make that same play in that same big spot through year of expert tutelage. And it won’t just be the wide receivers who need a little guidance of the sort which Landry is capable of providing.

Love is entering his fourth NFL season in 2023, but he’s started all of one game in his career (a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs back in 2021 when Rodgers was forced out due to the league’s COVID-19 protocols) and played meaningful minutes in just one half of football last year (against the Philadelphia Eagles in November when Rodgers exited during the third quarter due to a rib injury).

Landry has played with a host of quarterbacks during his nine-year professional tenure, most of whom rated somewhere between average and subpar. Love will be both one of the least experienced and potentially most talented members of that group. Currently absent a veteran wide receiver for Love to lean on during the inevitable growing pains to come, a player like Landry may prove as important to the Packers during practice and in the locker room setting as he can on the field on Sundays.

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Jarvis Landry Offers Packers Quality Slot Complement to Big-Play Wideout Christian Watson

Should Reed get injured or prove less than ready to hop into a starting role as his rookie season commences, Landry remains a viable option alongside projected starters Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs.

Landry caught 39 passes for 272 yards and one touchdown in 2022, per Pro Football Reference, but was limited to just nine games played. He made 52 grabs for 570 yards in 12 contests the year prior and hauled in 72 passes for 840 yards in across 15 games two seasons past. Landry was a Pro-Bowl selection in every campaign that came before, save for his rookie year in 2014.

If healthy, Landry has plenty to offer Love on the field. That will be doubly true if Watson continues to draw the kind of attention he did as a rookie and duplicates the success he had despite all the tight coverage.

Jim Wyman of Pro Football Focus on May 30 identified Watson as the second-best receiver in the NFL in the category of contested catch rate, after the wideout hauled in 9-of-12 passes thrown his way that qualified as contested targets.

“The youngest receivers placed quite highly on this list, as three rookies cracked the top 10,” Wyman wrote. “Christian Watson, George Pickens and Jahan Dotson were all 2022 draftees who made defenders think twice with the ball in the air.”

Considering everything Landry can offer Green Bay, and what the Packers can offer him in return, a union ahead of this season makes sense. Landry played last year in New Orleans on a one-year deal worth $3 million and can likely be acquired for a similar price in 2023.

The Packers had nearly $16.6 million in available cap space as of June 21, and an investment of less than 20% of that to add a meaningful player to a young offense in need of a veteran appears more than worth the cost.

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