With Davante Adams headed to the Raiders, relive his final touchdown catch. (0:20) Davante Adams has 668 career catches in the National Football League. The Green Bay Packers receiving corps has barely more than that. Most of those belong to Randall Cobb. David Moore has 78 career catches, but none of them with the Packers. The rest are Juwann Winfree and Rico Gafford. Tracking signings, more
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Allen Lazard would rank second on this list, but he hasn't signed his restricted free-agent tender yet and isn't technically on the roster.
It is safe to say that the group that will line up for the Packers in the season opener is not the one you will see.
The Packers now have four picks in the top 60 after trading Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday night. If they move up in the first round, they could take one of the best, Ohio State's Garrett Wilson or USC's Drake London. One of Gutekunst's mentors, Ron Wolf, could make a move to take multiple players at the same position early in the draft. Wolf once drafted defensive backs with his first three picks.
The team has the third-longest streak without drafting a receiver in the first round. They haven't done that since 2002. The Jets and Seahawks were the only two that went longer.
There is no guarantee that a rookies will make an immediate impact.
The Packers took a receiver with their original first-round pick. That was before the Adams trade.
If the Packers are able to add a veteran receiver or two, the draft strategy could change.
One of their own free agents, deep-threat Marquez Valdes-Scantling, remains unsigned. He is likely to get $5 million per year. The Packers now have an additional $20.14 million in salary-cap space after removing Adams and his franchise tag from their books.
They haven't been known to sign veteran receivers, however, in the last few years they've been linked with Will Fuller and Odell Beckham Jr. OBJ was hurt in the Super Bowl. The best of the rest are JuJu Smith-Schuster, Cole Beasley, and Cordarrelle Patterson.
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The connection Rodgers had with Adams will be hard to duplicate.
Consider what Rodgers said after he and Adams hooked up for a 41-yard completion last season against the Chicago Bears.
I told him in the locker room that I would miss the moments when you make a subtle adjustment and it is a stud like 17 and he just went like this. I knew it was going to be a special play, and the guys gave me enough time and he ran a nice route and almost scored, other than stepping out there barely.
The play was called by Rodgers and Adams at the line of scrimmage.
He thought we could get it because he recognized the look, LaFleur said at the time.
The Packers have won the past seven games Adams has missed and he will turn 30 before the season ends. Since the start of the season, the Packers have averaged 31.6 points in seven games without Adams, and Rodgers has thrown 19 touchdown and just one interception.
It might force Rodgers to stop forcing the ball to one receiver. The 49ers playoff loss was a perfect example. Rodgers targeted Adams 11 times, and while nine of them were completed for 90 yards, the ball should have gone to a wide-open Lazard over the middle on third-and-11 late in the fourth quarter, but he instead targeted Adams in double-coverage and threw incomplete. The Packers didn't get the ball back.
There isn't a go-to receiver on the roster anymore. Time will tell if that changes this season.
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