The Green Bay Packers must use the 2020 NFL Draft to provide the finishing touches on a team that won 13 regular-season games and got within one game of the Super Bowl during Matt LaFleur’s first season as head coach.
Between now and the draft, Packers Wire will periodically break down one top prospect fitting the Packers’ roster needs.
Up next is Clemson receiver Tee Higgins.
What he can do
– Incredible body control at all areas of the field
– Excellent hands; plucks everything out of the air with his hands
– Terrific tracking the football down the field
– Elite-level ball skills and consistent contested-catch winner
– Effortless and functional coordination
– Length provides impressive catch radius
– Sideline wizard with Jordy-like awareness and body positioning
– Long strider with deep speed
– Tough matchup in confined areas like the red zone
– Can be a handful to tackle after the catch
– Versatile, with experience playing the X, Y and Z receiver positions
– Caught 27 touchdown passes in 37 games
– Highly trusted target of future top pick Trevor Lawrence
How he fits
The Packers need playmakers at wide receiver. Higgins can operate as a perimeter player with the ability to win downfield, provide throwing windows in tight spaces and keep the chains moving with tough catches to intermediate areas. Lawrence trusted him explicitly in Clemson’s offense because he consistently created big plays for the quarterback. Aaron Rodgers needs another ball-winner. Historically, the two-time MVP has been at his best when he can throw to a spot with the confidence that his receiver will be there and capable of making the play. Think of Higgins as an upgraded and far more reliable version of Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the Matt LaFleur offense. Combine Higgins with the versatility of Davante Adams, the emergence of Allen Lazard and maybe a free-agent or draft pick capable of creating in the middle of the field from the slot, and the Packers passing offense could take a legitimate step forward in 2020.
NFL comp
A.J. Green. Forget signing Green in free agency. Why not draft his 21-year-old clone? Like Green, Higgins is a long and lanky pass-catcher with the body control, ball skills and buildup speed to be a consistent downfield and red-zone threat in the NFL for years to come.
Where Packers could get him
Higgins has the skillset of a sure-fire first-rounder, but the depth of the receiver class could easily push him down to the bottom half of the first round, especially if teams picking before the Packers value other traits in a pass-catcher. Higgins would have to be under heavy consideration if he fell to Brian Gutekunst and the Packers at No. 30.
Highlights