The Green Bay Packers were without rookie wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks on Thursday as he continued to work his way through concussion protocol. His absence meant more targets for Malik Heath, who capitalized on the additional opportunities with an incredibly efficient performance.
“It was cool to see a lot of young guys get their first opportunity to go out there and play and make some big time contributions,” said Matt LaFleur after the win. “I know Malik’s been up for the last couple of weeks but he had four catches today, and made some big plays.”
Heath ended up finishing second on the team in both receptions and yards, hauling in four passes for 46 yards, with three of them being contested by Lions’ defenders. The truly impressive part of Heath’s performance, however, was that he put up those numbers on somewhat limited opportunities.
Heath was on the field for just 11 total snaps on Thursday, although given his impact in both the passing game and as a blocker, watching live it felt like a lot more. But of those 11 total snaps, only five were as a route runner, and he still managed to get four targets and be as productive as he was.
Yards per route run is an efficiency metric from PFF, and Heath averaged a whopping 9.2 yards per route that he ran. For some context around just how impressive that figure is, coming into Week 11, the NFL’s leader in this category is Tyreek Hill, with 4.06 yards per route.
From a pure snap count standpoint, Heath didn’t fully take on Wicks’ workload in his absence. Over the last four games, Wicks has averaged 25 snaps per game. Instead, the Packers relied more heavily on their top three receivers – Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Jayden Reed – to navigate their way through this game. However, production-wise, Heath did his best to fill that void, not to mention that he through some key blocks in the run game as well.
It was just last week against the Los Angeles Chargers that Heath made his first NFL reception. A few days later he is playing a key role in the Packers offensive surge against Detroit. Heath’s recent play is an example of the growth that the entire receiving room has experienced in recent weeks, which in turn, has helped provide a needed spark for Jordan Love and the entire offense.
“I absolutely can,” said Adam Stenavich last week when asked if he can see the growth from the Packers young receivers. “It’s been fun to watch these guys playing around each other more. Being around each other, the communication that they have on the sidelines and at practice. You can just tell the guys are starting to get it. They’re just understanding things better. Playing faster and just making plays. It’s been great to see all of that.”
The return of Wicks will, of course, be a welcomed sight for the Packers passing game. He has been a capable blocker, is a really refined route runner for a rookie, and seems to have a sixth sense for finding the soft spot in the defense, allowing him to come up with some key receptions and explosive plays.
However, while all of that is very true, Heath’s emergence in a crucial game shows that one of the strengths the Packers offense right now is that in any given situation, Love has four or five players that he can get the ball to, all of whom have the ability to create a chunk play—not to mention that so many potential pass-catching options on any play can really stress a defense.
“He’s a strong, strong football player,” said LaFleur about Heath during training camp. “He can run through contact, he does a good job releasing off the line of scrimmage, widening corners when he gets press coverage, ripping through, he’s got really good ball skills and he’s a bigger guy.”