When Green Bay packers general manager Brian Gutekunst decides to address a weakness, he doesn’t mess around.
Gutekunst took three offensive linemen in 2021, 2022 and 2024. He took three wide receivers in 2022. And he overhauled his safety position after the 2023 campaign.
This year, the wide receiver group is getting another makeover.
The Packers selected TCU wideout Savion Williams in the third round of Friday’s draft. Green Bay took receiver Matthew Golden 24 hours earlier during Thursday’s first round.
Williams has terrific size, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 222 pounds. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.48 seconds at the NFL Combine.
During his five years at TCU, Williams played in 52 games, caught 137 passes for 1,655 yards (12.1) and had 14 touchdowns. Williams also ran the ball 62 times rushes for 384 (6.2) and six TDs.
Many scouts compared Williams to Cordarrelle Patterson, a versatile player who’s carved out a 12-year career with six NFL teams.
On the flip side, scouts questioned his hands and a his ability to run the full route tree.
Williams joins a wide receiver group that needed plenty of help after a subpar 2024 season.
Jayden Reed led the team in receptions (55) for a second straight year and had a team-best 857 receiving yards. His six touchdown receptions ranked second.
Despite being the Packers’ top option in the passing game, though, there were seven games Reed had two catches, or fewer.
“I think that we could have done better from a staff perspective of trying to put him in some more advantageous situations where he could have produced those numbers, because he’s an explosive player and he’s one of those guys that you want to get the ball to, no doubt about it,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Reed.
Romeo Doubs ranked third on the team with 46 receptions, was third in receiving yards (601) and fourth in touchdowns. But Doubs also missed two games with concussions and another after he was suspended for going AWOL from the team.
Third-year man Dontayvion Wicks was an enormous disappointment in 2024. Wicks led the Packers in targets (76), but was just fourth in receptions (39) and fourth in receiving yards (415). His catch rate of 51.3% was the second worst in football among wideouts.
Christian Watson, the Packers’ fastest wideout, will likely miss much of the 2025 campaign after tearing his ACL in Green Bay’s regular season finale last year.
Bo Melton (17 catches) and Malik Heath (13) are deep down the depth chart.
LaFleur admitted recently that his receivers simply weren’t good enough in 2024. According to Pro Football Reference, the Packers had the third-highest number of drops in football last season (33) and the second-highest drop rate (6.9%).
“To be honest with you … we had a ton of drops, and that’s an area that we have to clean up,” LaFleur said.
