One of the more curious reports of the Packers offseason popped up on Monday, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter dropped an interesting nugget on Green Bay receiver Jayden Reed.
Schefter reported Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst met with Drew Rosenhaus, Reed’s agent, last week to “clarify” his status with the team in the wake of them drafting two receivers in the first three rounds of the 2025 draft.
Initially, it was easy to read this report as the receiver being unhappy with the team, but from the wording it sounds more like Gutekunst wanted to reiterate Reed’s importance by meeting with his camp, rather than the third-year player being disgruntled.
There is no reason to be worried by this report, as there was no mention of Reed being unhappy, and even if he is concerned about his role given the competition which has been built in the receiver room, he has no need to be.
Reed is Green Bay’s designated slot receiver, playing over 75% of his snaps there in the first two seasons of his NFL career, and nothing that happened this offseason is going to change that.
While Matthew Golden and Savion Williams are both capable of playing inside, they were primarily perimeter receivers in college and project to have the same role at the next level.
Free agent signing Mecole Hardman is less likely to make the team than he is to eat into Reed’s snaps in any significant way.
Being in the slot should provide a certain level of protection for Reed’s play time – he has played a higher percentage of offensive snaps than any other Packers receiver since he was drafted – and targets.
The presence of Williams, and Hardman if he makes the team, could mean Reed takes less of the gadget-type touches he has become accustomed to, but this is not a massive part of his game.
He only has 32 rushing attempts in two seasons, so reducing his workload in that regard should not lead to much of a dip in his overall production.
In fact, it could be a positive for Reed’s game overall to pass off some of this responsibility. Both head coach Matt LaFleur and offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich mentioned Reed was pretty beat up by the end of the 2024 season.
He is not the biggest receiver, so having him take fewer hits, which these carries invite, might not be the worst thing for his long-term health and career.
Reed has been an above average slot receiver in his first two NFL seasons. Of the 24 qualified receivers who played more of their snaps in the slot than on the outside in 2023, Reed ranked 7th in PFF receiving grade.
In 2024, Reed somewhat stagnated, but still ranked 12th out of the 28 qualified slot receivers.
There has been plenty of talk about Green Bay’s struggles versus man coverage in 2024, and Reed was certainly part of that issue, ranking 106th, or dead last, among all receivers in PFF receiving grade versus man coverage.
He was much better in 2023 however, ranking 39th against man coverage, so it is not a chronic or fatal issue that cannot be improved.
It seems at this point he is the most likely of Green Bay’s non-rookie group of receivers to get a second contract with the team. Golden and Williams are unlikely to impact his production enough to threaten that or reduce his value, which is probably what Gutekunst told Rosenhaus.
It is Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, the incumbent perimeter receivers, who have more so been put on notice by the Packers’ draft moves.
