The Green Bay Packers have been the NFL’s youngest team in each of the last two seasons, and despite their youth, they’ve made the postseason in both years. They became the youngest team since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to win a playoff game in 2023 when they upset the No. 2 seed Dallas Cowboys in the NFC wild-card round.
However, running back Josh Jacobs, who just produced a Pro Bowl season with 1,329 yards rushing and 15 rushing touchdowns, said the Packers need “a real wide receiver” who is a “proven No. 1” on Radio Row at Super Bowl LIX on Wednesday. Green Bay wide receivers Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks have all flashed with unique skill sets, but they are all players who have three or fewer seasons of experience and are currently 25 years old or younger. The Packers came up a few plays short against both the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles the last two seasons.
Even though Jacobs’ comments might have had some of the Packers’ young wideouts feeling some type of way, the Pro Bowl running back doubled down on his comments while on the “Locked on Packers” podcast on Radio Row on Thursday.
“I still stand behind my comments. Like I said, I love the guys that we have. I think they have a lot of talent, and I would never discredit somebody’s ability when I see the type of work they put in each day, but I also still think that we need a guy that’s a veteran in this league to be able to just elevate everyone,” Jacobs said on Thursday. “Make the room a little better, give little nuggets here and there. Not only that, people forget Christian Watson, he’s going to be out until Week 12 maybe Week 13. He’s literally going to come at the end season. So that is some production we have to replace. However they do it, I don’t know how they’re going to do it. If they draft a guy or whatever, I just think we need another guy. … When you have a guy that’s a veteran, they demand a little bit more attention. That allows everybody else to eat. They’ll be able to produce off of it. I think it just helps everybody honestly.”
So what’s driving this aggressive push by Jacobs for his squad’s wide receiver core to acquire a little bit more seasoning? Jacobs kept that explanation simple: as a running back, he doesn’t know how long he has left, so he wants to see the Packers be aggressive in their pursuit of their first Super Bowl since the 2010 season.
“I’m at a place man where all I care about is winning,” Jacobs said. “I don’t know how long I have left in this game, and I never take it for granted. So for me, I’m just trying to say before it’s all said and done, that I got to put one of them rings up and hold the Lombardi up. That’s really my only goal and focus.”
Jacobs’ thoughts on the topic are fantastic, but the player whose thoughts matter most on this topic is the guy throwing the football for the Packers, quarterback Jordan Love. Green Bay’s 26-year-old quarterback, who just completed his second season as the starter, initially took a diplomatic approach to addressing Jacobs’ comments on Friday.
“I think yes, for what we have, the guys we have in there in that receiver room, yes,” Love said Friday on the “Up & Adams Show” with Kay Adams when asked if not having a true No. 1 wide receiver worked for Green Bay. “I think that’s the same group we had the year before, and it works. We have a great group. There’s definitely areas we need to focus on and improve on to get over the hump that we hit this year. Just get more consistent, focus on the details. I love those guys. We have a great group. That is a group that if we keep growing and building this together, we can do some special things. No one has reached their potential on our offense. There’s a lot of room for growth and a lot of areas to improve on.”
However, Love would “definitely” welcome a veteran presence in the wide receiver room that Jacobs is banging the table for the Packers to acquire.
“Definitely, definitely,” Love said. “I was talking with people yesterday, but I’ve been saying when you add good players to a good team, good things will happen. We went out and got Josh Jacobs this offseason, phenomenal playmaker for us and elevated our offense. Took it to another level. [Safety] Xavier McKinney on the back end on defense. … Took the defense to another level. I love adding pieces, and like I said, to add those good players, it’s only going to help our offense I think. It has to be the right guys, the right fit for the group we have. It’s all about the mindset. You want guys that come in and want to win, push the envelope and all the extra things that Josh Jacobs did for us.”
Kay Adams directly asked Love about the Packers reacquiring All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams this offseason, and he would be in favor of it. That’s despite Adams asking for a trade out of Green Bay because he didn’t know how Love would play after Aaron Rodgers’ tenure with the Packers ended.
“I’m not mad about it,” Love said laughing. “Davante that’s my guy. Obviously, I was with him for a good amount of time there in Green Bay my first couple seasons. I know exactly what type of player his. Phenomenal guy. … Just a great guy. You see it every week, the playmaking ability that he has. When I was with him, he dropped three passes in the years I saw him, so he is just a phenomenal receiver. Creates so much separation off the line, and then that’s his game. Killing guys off the line and making crazy catches and making big time plays. He’s a phenomenal receiver.”
Love was asked about Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, who is a pending free agent, on ESPN’s NFL Live on Thursday, and he would also be happy to welcome another member of the 2020 NFL Draft class to Green Bay.
“Tee is a phenomenal player. I know Tee pretty well, and like I said if you add a really good player to a really good offense, I think the sky is the limit,” Love said on “NFL Live” on Thursday.
When the Packers all reconvene in Green Bay for the team’s offseason program in the spring, he anticipates he won’t have to play peacemaker all that much when Jacobs and the team’s young wide receivers are back in the same locker room.
“It’s tough now when everyone is in separate spaces, but we’ll get back,” Love said of having to potentially mend fences between Jacobs and the wide receivers. “Everybody will be great. … We’ll see who we got when we get back for OTAs and go from there.”