Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on Tuesday that the team’s young wide receivers need to be more consistent route runners and pass catchers to make an impact this season, but it doesn’t sound like he’s worried about not having enough places to go with the ball this season.
When Rodgers wasn’t talking about the receivers on Tuesday, he was talking about how useful running backs Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon can be in the passing game. Rodgers said it is “really realistic” for both players to catch 50 passes this season and he pointed to sets using both players at the same time as a way to maximize their productivity.
“You’ve seen today, we had them in multiple packages where they’re both in the backfield,” Rodgers said, via Zach Kruse of USAToday.com. “We have a lot of stuff out of that. We have runs to both of them. We have swing passes to them. We have screens. We have down-the-field stuff. We have action stuff. We have scat protection. We have six-man, seven-man protection stuff. There’s a lot in the offense for those two guys. We’ve got to get out best 11 on the field, and it seems like those two are in our best 11.”
Jones has at least 47 catches in each of the last three seasons and he caught 52 passes last year. Dillon didn’t play much as a rookie before catching 34 passes last season and it sounds like that may be the floor for the 2022 season.