Rookie Wide Receivers Are Facing an Uphill Battle
The Packers have never shied away from putting as many weapons around Aaron Rodgers as possible, and they added two potential new ones in the NFL Draft.
Receivers DeAngelo Yancey and Malachi Dupre join an already crowded position group but both are big, fast targets and they should have a fairly good shot at making the 53 man roster.
Unfortunately for Yancey and Dupre, “fairly good” doesn’t really play in today’s media landscape. Things are either awesome or terrible, and Twitter has already decided that one of these guys is going to be the greatest receiver in the history of the Packers and perhaps the league.
Move over Aaron Rodgers, there’s a new crowning jewel in Ted Thompson’s draft history!
And while it’s certainly possible that both Yancey and Dupre will go on to great things, we’re probably underestimating the serious uphill battle they face.
No matter how good they may be as players, it’s a fact that only two wide receivers picked in the Ted Thompson era after the third round have made the 53 man roster out of training camp: Trevor Davis and Jeff Janis.
No seriously, look at the list yourself.
It’s been extremely rare for a rookie wide receiver to make the roster outright in his first training camp with the team. Typically they need some seasoning on the practice squad, and with that in mind, we need to temper our expectations for both Yancey and Dupre.
This is not to say they couldn’t both be great some day. It’s just that their days of greatness may be a little farther away than some of us may want to admit.