The Green Bay Packers love their tight ends. They have one of the best quarterbacks in the game in Aaron Rodgers and, given that it’s a position that can see the chains moved pretty quickly, they’re pretty high on usage.
Unfortunately, though, Robert Tonyan suffered a torn ACL last October and is unlikely to be available for the first set of regular-season games, though some reports indicate he will be ready for the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings. Other sources have gone as far as claiming that the 28-year-old will be good to go by the time training camp starts at the end of July.
Green Bay still has Marcedes Lewis around, but while a fan favorite, he’s not as mobile and quick as he used to be – he’s 38 after all. Lewis is still a great blocker, yet can the Packers depend on him to make big catches? Last season, there was one game in which he had four catches but, before that, he hadn’t since 2017.
There should be an opportunity for Josiah Deguara to prove his worth. The 25-year-old tight end came into the NFL as a third-round draft pick in 2020 and the Packers brought him in as someone who could be an impact player. He’s only started three games in his career.
The Packers don’t need him to turn into a star overnight, they just need to be able to rely on him when they need a big play. And we imagine there will be plenty of situations where they will need him to get them a few yards downfield.
Deguara played for the University of Cincinnati prior to getting drafted, going 1,117 yards on 92 receptions during his time there. BetMGM Ohio would have surely given out some payouts on the strength of the player back then.
It will take the entire offense to really get the Packers going this season. They cannot depend on just a few of their players. The coordinator will need everyone to understand their roles clearly.
There is a lot Deguara can do to help the Packers, he just needs to understand where he needs to contribute and how to do it. Firstly, he needs to be aware of the fact that he won’t be the first option, though that could totally change if he plays well enough. He will have his chance as the Packers really need someone in the tight end position.
Tight ends have found lots of success in the Packers’ system and it’s just right for a player like Deguara to flourish. He just might turn out to be one of the many proper tight ends to go through Green Bay. All he needs to do is to be aware of what the team needs from him and then give them that.
The upcoming season is going to be a challenging one for Green Bay and they will experience the most anomalies of Matt LaFleur’s career in charge of the team.
For one, they traded two-time first-team All-Pro wide receiver, Davante Adams, to the Las Vegas Raiders earlier this year. They’ve also seen two veteran wideouts in Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown walk in free agency.
The coaching staff has undergone an overhaul following offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett leaving to become the head coach of the Denver Broncos. Apart from Tonyan, the likes of offensive lineman Elgon Jenkins and left tackle David Bakhtiari is also returning from serious knee injuries.
On top of all of that, the offensive line and defense are ever-changing and the team will be depending on those units to be the focal points early on in the term.
“Every year is a different year, and we’re going to have a lot of new faces,” LaFleur was quoted as saying after the NFL Draft, per The Athletic. “It was interesting having our first team meeting (of the offseason program). When you look in the crowd, there are a lot of new guys, a lot of new coaches. So you’ve got to bring it all together. And that is a process. It takes time.”
The key games of the regular season should be against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 3 on September 25. The Week 15 clash against the defending champions, the Los Angeles Rams, could also be considered the showdown of the season for the Packers, yet it doesn’t beat Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady, especially as the Bucs have been dominating Green Bay since Brady left the New England Patriots to join them.
Brady and the Bucs beat the Packers in the 2020 NFC Championship Game although he threw three interceptions, and the regular-season game saw Tampa Bay beat LaFleur’s side 38-10.
