Could Romeo Doubs’ days in Green Bay be numbered? (Packers.com)
This week, the Jets dodged another QB calamity after Justin Fields suffered a dislocated toe, but it wasn’t considered serious and he returned to drills the following day; the Jags are prepping Travis Hunter to become the NFL’s first regular two-way player in over 60 years; and Cleveland’s defense took another hit when LB Jordan Hicks announced his retirement after a decade in the league. Other Fantasy football stories we’re tracking include…
Is the Pack Shopping Romeo Doubs?
In 2022, the Green Bay Packers’ streak of three straight 13 win-season ended with their first losing year since 2018. Since then, the Pack has recovered with campaigns of nine wins in 2023 and then 11 last year.
We’re now 15 years out from their last Super Bowl win and – believe it or not — it’s been 17 years since Brett Favre left the Packers (and then later beat them to become one of just four quarterbacks in history to have wins over every NFL team) and three years since Aaron Rodgers moved on and the team pivoted to Jordan Love.
Still, it’s been one hell of a ride for team President/CEO Mark Murphy, who is days from retirement.
And now, as Green Bay begins a new era, it has aspirations of returning to its former glory. However, even with the new season just around the corner, the Packers may not be completely finished tinkering with their roster.
For instance, top wide receiver Romeo Doubs – the topic of many offseason trade rumours — could still be dealt. Currently, the 25-year-old is a projected starter, and while he’s shown flashes of developing into the true No. 1 receiver the team desperately needs, he’s dealt with both health issues and the dropsies. Doubs didn’t help his own cause by earning a one-game suspension last season after missing practices.
Matthew Golden, the team’s first round pick this year, is poised to become the No. 1 target for Love (at least until Christian Watson is healthy) and with several WR2 types on the squad, Doubs may be expendable.
As things currently stand, Doubs enters the season as a streaming option. There’s upside here, but he’d be a desperation play this early in the season… unless he gets dealt somewhere he’d be assured to get more targets.
Is Anthony Richardson Up for the Job?
Three years ago, the Indianapolis Colts bottomed out with a 4-12-1 mark. Since then, they’ve been perfectly meh, winning nine times in 2023 before dipping to eight last year, marking their fourth straight season of missing the playoffs.
It’s unclear whether the Colts will be any better this season, and realistically, they don’t project as a playoff team.
The biggest question facing Indianapolis is who will be under centre for Week One. Riley Leonard is the extreme longshot, but the battle between newcomer Daniel Jones and incumbent Anthony Richardson should be one of the more fascinating contests to watch this summer.
For what it’s worth, Richardson is currently the slim favourite to land the gig (-130 as per FanDuel). In November, we discussed how inconsistent his sophomore season was going, and things didn’t exactly improve from that point, although he had a strong showing in Week 16 – especially on the ground.
Unfortunately, Richardson hurt both his foot and back in that game and missed the final two games. While he was able to suit up for more games last year, the results really left something wanting, hence the team added Jones to mix this offseason.
Still, Richardson spent the offseason working on improving his footwork, and early on at training camp, we’re starting to see that manifest itself.
However, unless he shows marked improvements during exhibition play, we can’t see him being anything more than a mid-range streaming option. Richardson has the pedigree to prove us wrong, but we’ll make him do so before using any draft capital on him.
RotoRob Tune of the Day
Canadian musician Diane Tell has been at it since 1977. In 2003, she released the compilation album Tout de Diane, which included the track “Faire a Nouveau Connaissance,” the title track from her 1986 album.