Like many of you, I was nervously watching the Green Bay Packers take on the Lions this past Thursday night when a fun play-call idea popped into my head. With the amount the Lions had been respecting the run and trying to stop Josh Jacobs, I thought it would be worth a shot to fake a hand-off to Jacobs and instead flip the ball to Jayden Reed on a jet sweep. At the moment I really thought that could be an exciting play that the Lions' defense might fall for and it would produce a big gain. Of course, it never happened. That's when I later realized that Jayden Reed hadn't touched the ball at all in that game. The remainder of the game was the same result, no touches, and only one target. 

This lack of production, unfortunately, isn't anything new in the last few games since the Packers' Bye Week. Before the Bye, Reed averaged four catches and around 69 yards receiving per game. Since then, the average has been two catches for 18 yards, which is very pedestrian for a player of Reed's capabilities. He hasn't made up for it in the running game either as in the last four games he's only had 2 rushing attempts for 18 yards total. Suddenly the player that some considered to be the Packers' top receiver, is putting together numbers fit for the 3rd or 4th. The touchdowns are there as he's had three in that span, but the yardage has been very unlike what we're used to with Jayden Reed. 

So, what's the deal? Has the passing game been that far off? We all know that's not true as Jordan Love has possibly played his best football of 2024 since the Bye week putting up 904 yards on 59 completions for six touchdowns and only one interception. When you look at the receiving stat sheet, it's either been dominated by one of Reed's teammates in each game or it shows evidence of the ball just being evenly distributed and Reed just hasn't been on that dominant side yet. Coincidentally, many of the receivers that are currently producing on the stat sheet are some of those that took a back seat while Reed was having big games. 

Could this be the Packers' offense reimbursing off a little "pay it forward" action from the start of the season? Two receivers that have seen an increase in production while Reed has been down are Christian Watson and Dontayvion Wicks. Both receivers had a few good moments to start the season, but not many as they were caught up in blocking for the running game or helping their fellow receivers get free. Matt LaFleur always says, "No block, no rock" so this could be Watson and Wicks getting that rock after a lot of blocking the majority of the season. I could see LaFleur running a few extra plays here and there that may highlight receivers he feels he "owes" but I doubt he'd do it at the expense of one of his best guys.

Simply put, it needs to change. 

Bringing Reed Back to Form

Many times when I debate why a receiver isn't producing as much as they do normally, the reason is they're not getting open. Defenses aren't naive, they'll blanket those top receivers and try to take them out of the game. That's why it's so important to have other options on the field. If the defense blankets WR1, then beat them with WR2 or WR3, TE1, or in an offense like Matt LaFleur's, even RB1 could be the X-factor in the passing game. In Reed's absence from being a big producer on the stat sheet, it is true, that other pass-catchers have produced instead. But it's not for the reason of a defense blanketing Reed and taking him off the QB's list of options. He's been open.

Re-watching a few plays of the last four games, I've seen Jayden Reed get open. Oddly enough, it seems like Jordan Love should be able to see him too. But instead Love opts for a different receiver running a different route. On the final drive for the Packers vs the Lions, on 3rd and Goal, when Christian Watson was called for what I'm not shy to say was a bad OPI call, Jayden Reed was open for the touchdown. Throw it to Reed instead of Josh Jacobs and the OPI is likely negated and the Packers go up by four barring a successful extra point. 

It begs the question, sure Jordan Love has turned around his bad interception luck the last three games, but at what cost? Is he being too careful with the ball and is his avoiding of Reed due to jitters of his openness seeming too good to be true? It could be but you're not going to get over it until you try. 

The Packers' offense needs to get Jayden Reed more involved from this point forward. With the team in an abbreviated Bye week coming off a Thursday night game, it may be the perfect time for Matt LaFleur and even Tom Clements to help look over the film and convince Jordan Love that he's missing out on some of his progressions and that while it's good he's being careful, he still needs to just air it out if he wants to win football games in dominant fashion. 

Christian Watson is the speedy deep threat, Romeo Doubs is the clutch man, Tucker Kraft is the big target tight end, and Jayden Reed is a Swiss army knife. The Packers need to bring out the Swiss army knife to show everything it can still do. Whether they get Jayden Reed the ball on a quick-slant, bubble screen, or end-around, it's time to let it all fly and take advantage of the weapon they have. More production from Jayden Reed could lift this offense to new heights. If not, it could be another wasted opportunity.