In the weeks after the Green Bay Packers’ playoff exit this past season, running back Josh Jacobs publicly called for the Packers to add a proven No. 1 receiver to the team. After an unimpressive offensive performance in the Packers’ wild-card loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Jacobs explained the importance of adding a true top receiver during an appearance on a local radio station.
“We’ve got a really young group of receivers; all can be really, really, really special,” Jacobs told Milwaukee radio station 97.3 The Game earlier this offseason. “But I think, personally, we need a guy that’s proven to be a No. 1 already—somebody we know that’s going to be a little more consistent.”
The Packers do have a young receiving core that features a group of versatile playmakers, but lack that bona fide receiving threat. They have not had an 1,000-yard receiver since trading Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders. The Packers will also likely be without Christian Watson to start the 2025 season as he is still working his way back from a torn ACL he suffered late last season.
Love addressed Jacobs’s wish to add a No.1 receiver while speaking to Sports Illustrated on behalf of Toyota, as they partner to cover the registration fees for all NFL FLAG football teams within a 25-mile radius of the Green Bay area. Love expressed confidence in the team’s current receiving core, but added that he especially wouldn’t mind if the Packers added another playmaker in the draft this week.
“I think we have a very good receiver room as it is,” Love said. “To Josh’s point, he’s trying to say we might need a veteran guy, a veteran presence. We do have a lot of younger guys, but those guys have gotten a lot of experience. They’ve been playing since they got there, have gained a lot of things. Whoever it is we have in that locker room, and if we add somebody, if we don’t, I think it just comes down to, like I said, our mindset, trying to attack it to be the best version we can be.
“With the draft coming up, I’m sure we’re going to add a couple receivers to that room, and I know there’s a guy who went to my alma mater of Utah State, who I wouldn’t be mad if we added, because I know the Aggies, we’ve got some talent over there.”
Love was likely hinting at Aggies wide receiver Jalen Royals, who is ranked as one of the top receiving prospects in this year’s class, and the 63rd overall player in the draft according to SI’s Daniel Flick. Royals caught 55 passes for 834 yards and six touchdowns and last season, and is projected to be a mid-round pick.
Even without a true No. 1 receiver, the Packers offense still ranked top-five in the NFL last season. That said, with Watson out, adding more depth to the position could certainly help, and even make the Packers better contenders for a potential deep postseason run.