The Green Bay Packers seem to be growing impatient with some of the injuries plaguing the bottom half of their receiving room.
According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Packers hosted a trio of wide receivers, including former Memphis standout and undrafted rookie Damonte Coxie, for workouts on Friday ahead of their preseason opener against the Houston Texans on Saturday night. They also brought in another rookie wideout, Donnie Corley, along with fifth-year Isaac Whitney.
Coxie stands out as the most intriguing of the three tryout wide receivers after he averaged 15.9 yards per reception during his four seasons at Memphis. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound playmaker caught a combined 148 passes for 2,450 yards and 16 touchdowns across his sophomore and junior seasons for Tigers and was off a promising start as a senior — with 16 receptions for 175 yards and a touchdown — before ultimately deciding to opt-out after two games.
Despite cutting his senior year short, Coxie still finished his career as one of Memphis’ all-time most productive receivers, logging the third-most receptions (185) and receiving yards (2,948) in program history.
The Packers currently have 12 wide receivers signed to their 90-man active roster, but Equanimeous St. Brown (hamstring) and Juwann Winfree (shoulder) have both been sidelined for nearly a week with injuries. Given the Packers essentially have five receivers locked for their 53-man roster — Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Amari Rodgers — it is possible they are searching for healthier bodies to help drive up competition for their sixth (and possibly seventh) spots in the rotation.
The Packers have a full roster and would need to make a corresponding move to clear room for any potential new addition.
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St. Brown Running Out of Time
St. Brown has become a bit of an “oh-yeah-that-guy” receiver over the past few seasons with the Packers. After standing out as a rookie with 21 receptions for 328 yards over 12 games, the 2018 sixth-round pick has struggled to come anywhere close to the same production with injuries frequently bogging him down. He was sidelined for the entire 2019 season with a high ankle sprain that landed him on injured reserve during the preseason, then missed the first four games in 2020 due to a separate injury.
Even when healthy, St. Brown had difficulty carving out a place for him in the receiving rotation. He was only targetted 13 times over the course of the regular season and never more than three times in a single game. While there were moments where he flashed his ability as a pass-catcher, such as his 21-yard touchdown reception against Tennessee in Week 16, there were also several instances of disappointing mistakes, including his dropped two-point conversion toward the end of the Packers’ NFC Championship Game loss to Tampa Bay.
St. Brown might still have time to turn things around with the Packers, but he surely can’t do it watching from the sideline while others put in work on the practice field.
Packers Eyeing Former Memphis Standout, Rookie WR for Roster