Matt LaFleur: 'I wanna vomit every time I hear No. 1 receiver'

As much as Packers fans, or fantasy football players, may want to hear it, Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur isn’t going to call any of his receivers his No. 1 guy. Though Jayden Reed led the team last year in receiving yards with 793 in the regular season, LaFleur doesn’t buy into the concept of a No. 1 receiver, specifically.

When asked about Dontayvion Wicks‘ role this season, the head coach balked at the idea of a “No. 1 receiver” and shared his thoughts bluntly.

“I want to vomit every time I hear No. 1 receiver. It drives me crazy,” LaFleur said on Monday. “That’s something you guys talk about. I think we’ve got a bunch of them. I think the beauty of them is they’re capable of doing many things, which gives us a lot of versatility from an offensive perspective in terms of how we use these guys and deploy their talents.

“Especially those, I would say top-four guys, they’re capable of being a No. 1 in some capacity. It’s just how do we want to attack somebody? Where do we want to put those guys? Who’s going to get the ball? I don’t know. It could change on a week-to-week basis. We saw it last year.”

The Packers benefitted greatly last season from a stable of young wide receivers that stepped up to aid quarterback Jordan Love in his first year as the starter. Love ended the year with the second most passing touchdowns (32). Meanwhile, Reed, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson and Wicks all posted more than 400 receiving yards and at least four touchdowns, but it’s tough to predict which will break 1,000 in 2024, if any of them do.

Dontayvion Wicks scores on deep ball

Having a lot of options, especially younger, cheaper weapons, is a great problem for LaFleur and his offense. In the first preseason game of the year, Wicks was the only one in the receiver quartet to catch a pass. He had just one target as the team rested most starters after the first series. He took the deep ball 65 yards for a touchdown.

Jordan Love. Dontayvion Wicks. TOUCHDOWN. That was electric pic.twitter.com/PAHYeIDnfS

— Lily Zhao (@LilySZhao) August 10, 2024

The touchdown from Love to Wicks on the first drive of the game gave the Packers a chance to give the starters a quick hook and get as many second, third and fourth-stringers in the game. The other touchdown scored, also in the first quarter, came on a carry by Emanuel Wilson.

Backup quarterback Sean Clifford threw to a whole host of backup wide receivers after he took over for Love. The Packers finished the game with 220 receiving yards with 17 catches caught by 10 different receivers, including several of the running backs. Second-year receiver Grant DuBose led the way with five catches for 66 yards. He was targeted six times and got four first downs.