Over the last four years, Romeo Doubs has usually been a consistent, if unspectacular wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers. Since the Packers selected him in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft,
Doubs has steadily put up similar numbers year after year.
In the last three seasons in particular, his consistency is impressive. He has averaged 3.5, 3.5, and 3.4 receptions per game, posting yardage totals between 600 and 725 each season and having a catch rate between 61 and 65 percent. 2025 saw him put up a career-high 13.2 yards per catch average, but that eclipsed his 2024 number by only 0.1 yard.
Arguably, 2025 was his best season, with 724 yards and that 13.2 average setting career-highs. He also capped off the season with a season-high in the playoff loss to the Chicago Bears — his 8 receptions and 124 yards were the most in any game this year, and it was in fact his only 100-yard game of the season.
So what kind of contract can Doubs expect to see this offseason? The Packers are sure to let him test the waters in free agency, and with plenty of cap space available for other teams around the NFL, odds are extremely high that he will be playing elsewhere in 2026. Still, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell is predicting a number for Doubs that is, on its face, a bit shocking.
I’ll be fascinated to see where Doubs’ deal comes in. There’s a chance teams see him as only a midtier No. 2 receiver, leaving him something in the range of $15 million per year. I suspect there will be at least one team that sees him as a player with untapped potential who could blossom in a more pass-happy scheme and with a steadier, more reliable usage pattern. That team might be willing to go north of $20 million per season.
I added the emphasis on the last sentence of that paragraph to underscore that projection. It’s a bit out of line with recent wide receiver contracts, as neither of the big NFL contract websites see him getting that kind of money. The top comparisons for Doubs’ value, according to Spotrac, are the trio of Christian Kirk, Allen Lazard, and Gabe Davis, who all signed deals worth between $11 and $18 million per year in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively.
Of those three, Doubs’ best comparison is probably Lazard, who got three years and $11 million annually from the Jets in 2023. Like Doubs, Lazard was a possession receiver who was solid in terms of efficiency and as a complementary receiver but was not well-cast as a true #1. The two players’ numbers in their final two seasons as Packers actually match up pretty well, both from a raw total and an efficiency perspective.
Davis is a weird one. He was never a huge volume receiver, but rather a big-play threat; his catch rate before his big deal was far lower than Doubs’, but his yards per reception was much higher. After playing the deep threat role in Buffalo, he flamed out of Jacksonville after signing his big deal, barely making it a year with the Jaguars.
So why is there smoke about Doubs potentially getting $20 million annually?
The first reason is salary cap inflation. When Lazard signed his deal in 2023, the salary cap was set at $224.8 million. Most projections for 2026 expect the cap to eb around $300 million. Using that ratio alone, a contract worth the same percentage of the overall cap as Lazard’s would be worth almost $15 million annually — that’s Barnwell’s initial number, and one that makes a lot of sense for Doubs in this market.
Now let’s shift to the receiver market as a whole. The top option, George Pickens, is sure to demand true #1 receiver money. Alec Pierce might do the same. But after them, the pickings get pretty slim. Everyone else on the market has a qualifier or concern: Mike Evans is old and hurt, Christian Kirk and Wan’Dale Robinson are probably exclusively slot receivers. What is Deebo Samuel these days?
That makes Doubs, who has played in a run-heavy Packers offense and has rarely received an opportunity to be a featured player, an intriguing one. In this case, perhaps a team sees Jakobi Meyers as a good comparison. The two players are similarly sized, and Meyers posted comparable numbers to Doubs in New England and Las Vegas through the 2023 season. Then, in 2024, Meyers broke out when Davante Adams departed the Raiders, becoming an effective WR1 and putting up his first 1,000-yard season. This year, the Jaguars acquired him at the trade deadline and gave him a 3-year, $60 million contract extension at age 29.
That’s the kind of deal and projection that Barnwell is seeing as a real possibility for Doubs in March. Teams like the Titans, Raiders, Jets, and Commanders all are projected to have over $60 million in salary cap space for 2026 — it’s not crazy to think that any one of those, particularly Tennessee or Las Vegas, could throw a bag at Doubs to try to make him a WR1, especially if they miss out on one of Pickens or Pierce.
The Packers, of course, would love to see Doubs get a huge contract elsewhere. With Green Bay unlikely to sign him or to bring in any other high-priced free agents themselves, the bigger the contract he gets, the better compensatory draft pick Green Bay would receive in 2027. With the Packers already out their first-round picks in each of the next two drafts, getting a 4th-round pick instead of a 5th would be a nice little boost.
Indeed, that’s the difference the Packers would be looking at if Doubs gets $20 million per year instead of $15 million. According to Overthecap.com, the cutoff between the two rounds for 2026 picks (which are based on 2025 free agent signings) was at around the $16 million mark. Cornerback D.J. Reed’s $16M AAV was listed as the lowest value for a player assigned a 4th-round pick value, while left tackle Jaylon Moore’s $15M was slotted as a fifth-rounder. With the cap increasing, expect contract values to increase overall, and that cutoff could be closer to $17 or $17.5 million instead.
Again, the bigger the deal that Doubs gets, the happier the Packers will be.
