Packers’ Pass Catchers Fantasy Football Breakdown | Should You Add Jayden Reed and Luke Musgrave? Can You Start Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs?

The Green Bay Packers’ offense has been a mess of late, which has made it difficult for fantasy owners to determine who to start on a weekly basis.

Let’s take a deeper dive on the team’s pass catchers, first taking a look at what they’ve accomplished and any trends that might be forming, and then taking a look ahead and choosing which guys you will want to add to your team or start.

Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including predictive waiver analytics to help prioritize waiver pickups, projections, auction values, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy football trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.

Week 7 Production

In week 7, the Packers’ passing game had an inviting matchup against the Denver Broncos. No wide receiver or tight end took advantage of the favorable matchup.

Christian Watson, the team’s No. 1 receiver, played the most snaps (56). He was targeted five times, catching three passes for 27 yards. He didn’t get any of the team’s three red zone targets.

No. 2 wideout Romeo Doubs was also targeted five times while playing 52 snaps. He caught just two passes for 30 yards, but did catch a touchdown to lead the team in fantasy points. Doubs had two of the red zone targets.

No. 3 receiver and rookie Jayden Reed was only on the field for 31 snaps, but did have four targets. He caught three passes for 21 yards, including a touchdown. He was the other pass catcher that was targeted in the red zone.

Rookie Dontayvion Wicks was the only other receiver over 10 snaps, playing 14 total. He caught a 17-yard pass on his lone target and also rushed once for a yard.

Four tight ends played in the contest, with rookie Luke Musgrave accounting for most of the production from the position. Musgrave played 43 snaps and caught four of his five targets for 30 yards. He left the game with an ankle injury.

Fellow rookie Tucker Kraft played 32 snaps, but was not targeted. Josiah Deguara, who functions more as a fullback than a tight end, played 17 snaps and wasn’t targeted. Ben Sims was on the field for four snaps and caught a 2-yard pass on his lone target.

Season Stats/Trends

Because Watson missed the first three games of the season, Doubs leads the team in several statistics. 

Doubs has 23 catches on 42 targets for 258 yards and four scores. Doubs has finished with less than 30 receiving yards in four of the team’s six games, tallying 73 and 95 yards in the other two. His targets are vaulted by weeks 3 and 4, when he combined for 25 targets. Doubs has five or less targets in the other four games, finishing with four grabs in one contest and two or less in the other three.

Reed is second on the team with 31 targets, catching 16 for 231 yards and three touchdowns. He’s been a bit more consistent than Doubs, with over 35 receiving yards in four of the six games. The problem is that his past two games are the ones he hasn’t met that mark, with 7 and 21 receiving yards in those contests, respectively. Reed has been targeted four or more times in all but one game.

Musgrave has the best catch percentage on the team (for players over 10 targets), with 22 catches on 28 targets. He’s gone for 189 yards, but no touchdowns. He’s dealt with some injuries that have knocked him out of games early, but has at least three targets and two catches in all the games he played over 50% of the offensive snaps. Musgrave has at least 25 receiving yards in those contests, but no more than 50 yards.

Watson sits fourth on the team with 16 targets through three games. He’s caught eight for 143 yards and a touchdown. A 77-yard reception boosts his overall numbers quite a bit. He’s gotten at least four targets in each game, but his most catches in a contest is three. He had 91 yards in his second game, and without the 77-yarder in that contest, he’d be under 30 receiving yards in every contest.

Wicks has eight grabs on 15 targets for the season, going for 112 yards and a score. He earned 12 of his targets in weeks 1-3, but since Watson’s return, has just one target a week.

Pass Catchers Fantasy Outlook

While teams love it when several players can help out in the passing game, what the Packers desperately need is for one of those guys to emerge as the clear No. 1 threat. Fantasy owners would also like that.

Looking at how the season has unfolded for the team’s pass catchers, you could make the argument that none of them deserve to be in starting lineups right now. 

Doubs and Reed have been solid, but their fantasy numbers are greatly inflated because of their touchdown receptions, with little yardage to supplement the scores. Watson’s numbers are down because he hasn’t played much, but he’s been held in check, outside of one catch, in his three games back.

Musgrave has been one of the more consistent pass catchers, but his numbers don’t turn many heads. He’s really only on the fantasy landscape because he’s at a weak position.

Let’s take a quick peek ahead and see if there’s any favorable matchups upcoming - even though it didn’t seem to help any of them this past week.

Green Bay plays a rejuvenated Minnesota Vikings squad this week before games against the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Chargers. That’s an incredibly favorable stretch, as only the Rams’ defense doesn’t rank in the bottom-five spots in the league in slowing opposing receivers. 

The numbers for those defenses against opposing tight ends aren’t as favorable, but only the Steelers rank in the top half of the league.

This isn’t the Packers’ offense we got used to with Aaron Rodgers slinging the ball all over the field, but somebody has to start producing for this team at some point, right?

Who to Add/Start Moving Forward

Seeing all those favorable matchups should at least give fantasy owners that own a Green Bay pass catcher some hope.

As for who the best fantasy asset is, I’d have to go with Musgrave at this point, and that’s simply because he’s a tight end.

His ankle injury complicates things, but if he’s able to play, he’s the Green Bay pass catcher I’d trust the most. Musgrave was owned in 51% of leagues, so there’s a decent chance he’s available if you need some tight end help. 

I don’t trust Watson, Doubs or Reed all that much right now, but if you have a roster spot available, they all might be worth stashing with that spot, simply because we don’t know who might emerge as the top fantasy player. 

Our charts say Watson is owned in 99% of leagues, although I have a feeling that could drop after his second poor showing in three weeks. Doubs was owned in 78% of leagues, while Reed was owned in 26% of leagues. I expect their own percentages to jump up a bit because of their touchdown catches this past week. In really deep leagues, you could also take a shot on Wicks, but I think he’s the least likely to be a viable fantasy asset - unless there’s an injury above him.

I wouldn’t call any of these players must starts for week 8. I like Musgrave the most, and then would simply take who plays the most snaps, so Watson, then Doubs and finally Reed. They all have a favorable matchup, but I’d have to see your other options for potential starters to make a call on any of them.