The 2018 season was a forgettable one for Packers tight end Marcedes Lewis. He hardly saw the field and let alone targeted in the passing game. For years, Green Bay fans clamored for the front office to give Aaron Rodgers a weapon at tight end. First, it was Martellus Bennett in 2017 and then Jimmy Graham next. Still, the Packers didn’t see the production they wanted.
That is when it became clear Mike McCarthy’s offense was not built to effectively weaponize a tight end. For a season the team even got away with starting Richard Rodgers. However, enough was enough.
The team signed Bennett which turned out to be a huge mistake. Perhaps things would have been different had Aaron Rodgers stayed healthy in 2017. Thankfully, the team didn’t give up. Not only did they sign Graham before last season but they even added depth in Lewis.
Even though he is well into back nine of his career, Lewis has shown the last few years he has some juice left. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t have known that if you were watching last season.
Lewis played sparingly on offense featured mostly as a run blocker. Opposing teams could pretty much disregard him anytime he was in the game. After all, he had three targets all season.
In a piece this week by Jason Wilde of The Athletic, Lewis revealed he almost considered retirement following what felt like a wasted season. Somehow, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst convinced him to come back for another season at 35-years-old with a promise in a new scheme implemented by Matt LaFleur, he would not be an afterthought.
Safe to say, Lewis is probably glad he returned for his 14th season. In the season opener in Chicago, he targeted three times and made two catches for 14 yards. He even played 33 snaps on offense.
“The scheme with LaFleur and what he likes to do is really tight end friendly,” Lewis said after the game.
While there is still a long season ahead, it appears Lewis has more to look forward to under LaFleur.
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Brandon Carwile was a Cheesehead at birth. His dad grew up attending games at Lambeau and passed on the legacy. He has covered the Packers for over five years and currently works with packerstalk.com. Find him on twitter at @PackerScribe.
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