The Packers’ decision to pass on drafting a wide receiver this year drew a lot of responses and many fell on the negative side given the perceived need to upgrade that position group heading into the 2020 season.
After the draft, General Manager Brian Gutekunst said the team addressed other areas because head coach Matt LaFleur “wants to tie everything to the run game and off the run game” on offense. While that may be the case, LaFleur does have some ideas about where the passing game needs to improve.
During an appearance on ESPN Wisconsin on Thursday, LaFleur noted the need for the team to pull off more big plays than they were able to manage in his first year with the team.
“One area we really need to improve on is creating more explosive plays,” LaFleur said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. “We were pretty efficient . . . but were 23rd in explosive plays. That starts with play calling [and] maybe take a few more chances to help generate those plays down the field.”
Devin Funchess was the lone free agent addition to the receiving corps and he’s not been a particularly explosive wideout in recent seasons, so the Packers will likely have to come up with some new tricks for the old faces if they’re going to change things around.