Paul Bretl | 11/20/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — It’s been an up-and-down season, to say the least, for Packers’ second-year wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks up to this point. But for this offense to be at its best, that includes getting Wicks involved, so going away from him shouldn’t be an option at this time.
On the season, Wicks has six dropped passes, according to Pro Football Focus, and a drop rate of 27.3 percent, which has contributed to his low overall completion rate when targeted of just 37.2 percent, with Wicks catching only 16 of his 43 passes.
For some context, Wicks’ six dropped passes are the second-most in football this season, and that drop rate is the highest by over four percent.
“Working with the quarterback, really, just focusing on eyes to hands, concentration, because most of the drops come from me looking away too quick,” said Wicks of the dropped passes.
Hit like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel ‘Paul Bretl’ for more Packers coverage.
Wicks has dealt with dropped passes before. During his final season at Virginia, he dealt with the drops that season as well, totaling nine in the nine games that he played. However, that wasn’t going to stop the Packers from drafting him because, as now passing game coordinator Jason Vrable described last spring, a lot of those drops were the product of Wicks trying to turn and make a play before he caught it.
It would seem to be a relatively simple fix that requires going back to the fundamentals. The drops Wicks has had this season seem to be of a similar ilk. However, now over halfway through the season, it’s still been a problem, so how does one go about fixing it?
“You go back and are like, ‘All right, what’s your weekly process with how you warm up, how you train your hands, what are you doing? And you’ve just got to make tweaks,” said Adam Stenavich. “And we’ve done that. and hopefully we see the results from that moving forward. But I have a ton of confidence in Tay and I know whatever issued we have with the catching, we’ll get those resolved and I’m excited about that.”
While ultimately, it’s up to the receiver to make the play, not all drops are created equal when it comes to where the blame lies. A few of those throws from Jordan Love to Wicks could have been better placed. One example of this came in the Detroit game with Green Bay in the red zone. As Love rolled to his right, Wicks ran wide open over the middle. Love let it rip but the pass was behind Wicks and went through his hands as he reached back for it.
Would you like to see Wicks make that play? For sure. Did Love need to put it in a better spot? Absolutely. Both things can be true.
Leading up to the Bears game, Love was a full participant in all three practices that week–something that hasn’t happened often this season as he’s navigated two different lower body injuries. Those additional practice reps moving forward, along with Love just generally being healthier, which can lead to improved mechanics and accuracy, can be a key factor in the quarterback-receiver duo regaining that chemistry we saw last season and even in training camp.
“Practice matters for sure,” said Wicks. “Because you work on the stuff you’re going to do in the game. There’s preparation, you’ve already seen it. It helps you be more comfortable and confident, and it helps you play faster, too. You’re doing stuff during the week that’s going to happen in the game. But he’s had a little time out of practice. We’re going to get it right.”
However, despite the drops and inconsistent play from Wicks, he is still third on the team in targets with 43, and he’s second in touchdowns with four. The reason being he’s a well-refined route runner, with a diverse release package at the line of scrimmage, who knows how to create separation, allowing him to win at all levels of the field.
To illustrate this, PFF has a metric called separation percentage, which tracks how often a receiver gets open by beating the coverage rather than benefitting from how the defense defends the play. So far this season, Wicks ranks second among all receivers in this category, creating separation on 74.5 percent of his routes.
“I mean, most of the time I’m out there, I feel like I’m open,” said Wicks. “I’ve got confidence in my routes, what I can do. I’ve got confidence in my catching. It just ain’t working how we want it right now, and that happens. So just keep working, outwork what’s going on right now and I feel like I’ll see the light at the end.”
Matt LaFleur says that the team remains confident in Wicks. The reason is that they see him make these receptions in practice, and when the practice preparation is consistently done correctly, then that should carry over to Sundays.
With all of the talent that the Packers have at the receiver position, getting consistent opportunities isn’t always going to come easy. Oftentimes, it’s the gameplan given the opponent that is going to dictate on a week-to-week basis where the opportunities may lie and that can even be thrown off by how the defense defends each play and where the read takes Love as he goes through his progressions.
So, for that reason, there are instances where snaps and targets can ebb and flow more so with this Packers offense than perhaps with other teams. This past Sunday against Chicago, Wicks was on the field for only 16 of the offense’s 46 total snaps, working as the fourth receiver on the team from a playing time perspective.
Given how the season has unfolded, I don’t think anyone would argue about Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Jayden Reed seeing more snaps than Wicks. But having said that, even through the ups and downs, the Packers can’t forget about Wicks either–and there is not indication that’s the case.
As Brian Gutekunst discussed during the bye week, one of the goals each season is for the team to be peaking at the right time and playing its best football come the playoffs. In order for the Packers to be at their best, that means having Wicks playing at the level that he’s shown he’s capable of because when that’s happening, there isn’t a situation where he can’t be on the field. When a receiver can separate like Wicks, the down, the distance, and the time of the game don’t matter–he can win regardless.
“My confidence ain’t going nowhere,” Wicks said. “I’m still confident in my hands, I know what I can do. It’s just, it’s going to turn. I’m just waiting on my time.”