GREEN BAY, Wis. — The drops that plagued the Green Bay Packers’ receivers last season occurred in the most critical of moments, much to the offense’s detriment.

According to SharpFootballAnalysis.com, 32.7 percent of Jordan Love’s third-down passing incompletions were due to receiver error. That’s nearly double the next full-time starter: Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals at 18.9 percent. Daniel Jones is second on the list with 27.3 percent, however, he played in just 10 games last season before being released by the New York Giants in November.

For anyone who paid even the slightest bit of attention to the Packers in 2024, Love spearheading the top of the list should come as no surprise.

Second-year wideouts Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks had 10 and nine drops, respectively, and appeared to take a step backward in that department after encouraging rookie campaigns. Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson combined for seven drops while Tucker Kraft had two.

Overall, the Packers dropped 33 passes as a team, which was third in the league behind the New York Jets (40) and Cleveland Browns (49). For perspective, Reed and Wicks alone combined for more drops than six teams.

Despite what can only be described as a lackadaisical year for the Packers’ wideouts, Love was still efficient in third-down situations.

He completed just south of 53 percent of his passes for 677 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions—36 of his 58 third-down completions were good enough for a first down. His 89.8 passer rating on third down was his second highest, well behind his 110.2 passer rating on second down.

The shortcomings shared by this group are why general manager Brian Gutekunst pursued Texas’ Matthew Golden, making the Longhorn the No. 23 overall selection and the first wide receiver taken in the opening round of the draft by the Packers since 2002.

Whether or not Golden will be able to immediately impact the offense as a rookie remains to be seen, and quite frankly, the hit rate on players in his position isn’t anything to write home about.

According to ESPN’s Mike Clay, only 24 of 148 wide receivers drafted beyond No. 20 overall since 2011 to log at least one snap as a rookie have surpassed 800 receiving yards in their first season. Only 24 of them have caught at least seven touchdowns.

Banking on Golden’s upside is really all the Packers have going for them at the moment, but that isn’t to say his story is already written.

Two of those 124 players who failed to meet that criteria were Watson and Doubs, each drafted by the Packers in 2022. Watson, who led the team with seven receiving touchdowns and is one of the aforementioned 24 players to do so as a rookie, finished with 611 receiving yards.

Doubs ended the year with 425, which even fell short of Robert Tonyan’s 470 in what happened to be his final season in Green Bay.

Both Watson and Doubs are scheduled to enter unrestricted free agency next spring, but they’ll be without the former for a large chunk of the regular season.

Watson sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in last year’s regular-season finale against the Chicago Bears. It’s likely that he’ll begin the 2025 campaign on the physically unable to perform list, which would require him to miss the first four games.