During his season-ending press conference in January, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst revealed his team’s interest in adding an “explosive offensive player” at last year’s trading deadline.
The Packers didn’t end up making a trade, but the admission was easily interpreted as Gutekunst providing a preview to the offseason when he could add an explosive player to the mix on offense.
It didn’t happen. Instead, the Packers signed receiver Devin Funchess in free agency and drafted running back A.J. Dillon and tight end Josiah Deguara, and only Dillon – more of a bruising back with elite athleticism – can be regarded as anything approaching explosive.
The Packers offense still has a major need for speed. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network made that point crystal clear when he looked at the average 40-yard dash times of all 32 teams in their most likely 11 personnel, a grouping featuring one running back, one tight end and three receivers.
The Packers were the slowest of the 32 teams.
Matt LaFleur’s offense really has but one savior in the speed department: Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
The third-year receiver ran the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds and has nine career catches over 40 yards. He has the straight-line speed and his big-play ability has shown up in flashes during his first two NFL seasons.
But a disappointing 2019 season filled with consistency and injury issues now clouds his future entering 2020.
The Packers are going to push Valdes-Scantling to take a big developmental step and give the offense a more consistent vertical threat.
“You look at MVS, the speed that he has – he has to take that next step, and that’s going to be a challenge for him, and we’re going to be all over him to do that,” LaFleur said in April.
In an interview with ESPN Wisconsin LaFleur said he wants to create more explosive plays, noting how the Packers finished the 2019 season in the bottom third of the league in the category. More explosive plays generally mean more points, or at least more chances scoring points. LaFleur pointed to his own playcalling as the biggest area in need of improvement for the creation of more explosive plays.
But the game is much more about players than plays. Explosive plays often require explosive players, and in the passing game, the Packers just don’t have many explosive players. Valdes-Scantling, for all his issues as an intermediate receiver, is an explosive deep threat, and his development will be vital to the Packers creating more big plays.
More and more, teams are prioritizing speed when building an offense. The Kansas City Chiefs, arguably the gold standard of offense in the NFL, packed their offense full of speedy pass-catchers. Speed is both a threat and a weapon, capable of putting every-snap pressure on defenses and opening up other concepts while also delivering impact plays when the speed isn’t respected or the speed simply beats the defense.
The Packers had little speed in 2019 and did little to improve their speed on offense in 2020. Valdes-Scantling, for all his warts, has the speed to make a difference. His one trick – using his explosive straight-line running ability to win down the field – is valuable. Now, the speed-deficient Packers need it to be much more consistent and a much bigger threat.
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