Monday Musings: Tight Ends

Maybe not having the NFL Combine will be a good thing for the Packers. GM Brian Gutekunst’s best pick in three drafts – based on the player’s performance relative to where he was selected – is Elgton Jenkins. The star guard from Mississippi State didn’t wow anybody in Indy in the winter of 2019, but he wowed everybody in Starkville the prior fall. Here are three more Packers-related thoughts that ran through my head the past few days:

1) The Packers don’t have a George Kittle (49ers) or a Travis Kelce (Chiefs) at tight end, but they might have the deepest and most intriguing collection of players at that position in the league. While Robert Tonyan caught 11 touchdowns last season and Marcedes Lewis remained a high-level run blocker at age 36, what makes this group so exciting are the two young players who barely contributed in 2020. Josiah Deguara looked a bit like ex-Giant Mark Bavaro before going on IR in October. The third-round pick isn’t a great athlete, but he runs precise routes, catches the ball easily, and is very physical. Jace Sternberger also couldn’t stay healthy, but in between injuries, he flashed the kind of down-the-field potential that hasn’t been seen from a Packers tight end since Jared Cook. If either Deguara or Sternberger steps up, the No. 1 scoring offense in the league last season could be even better in 2021.

Sternberger (#87) didn’t run a great 40 at the NFL Combine (4.75), but he deceptively eats the cushion of defensive backs with smooth strides. On this 27-yard reception against the Vikings last November, watch how effortlessly he gets down the field and then catches the ball away from his body.

2) The way Gutekunst has gone about his business the past few weeks, you’d think the 2020 defense was the second coming of Buddy Ryan’s 1985 Chicago Bears. The Packers retained yet another player from that side of the ball when Will Redmond agreed to a one-year deal last Friday. Tyler Lancaster and Kevin King were re-signed earlier, and the team held onto Preston Smith when the two sides agreed to a restructured contract. This tells you that Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur had a bigger issue with former coordinator Mike Pettine than they had with the personnel on defense. And while the upcoming draft might add a useful player or two, the Packers are clearly counting on new coordinator Joe Barry to turn what’s been a pedestrian unit for years into one that’s actually good enough to finally get Green Bay over the hump and back to the Super Bowl for the first time in a decade.

3) Speaking of Redmond, it’s very unfair to be overly critical of the veteran defensive back. While he hasn’t played particularly well since being promoted to the active roster in the middle of the 2018 season, it’s not his fault that he’s logged nearly 700 snaps the past two seasons. The 27-year-old doesn’t have the skill set to merit being on the field that much. He struggles to tackle at safety, and his cover skills are below average at corner. Ideally, the former Mississippi State star should be a team’s ninth defensive back – a player who does a good job as a core member on special teams and only lines up in the secondary in the case of an emergency. To put it very simply, if Redmond sees another 300-plus snaps next season, you can be sure the defense will have another nondescript season.[yop_poll id=”5″]