Jordan Love’s recent uptick in counting stats makes him look a lot more viable as an MVP option, but his increased passing output is also bringing a few of his teammates along with him.
As Love has continued
to pile up better and better passing numbers, Tucker Kraft and Romeo Doubs are seeing the lion’s share of the benefit. Both are now well on their way to career highs in several significant receiving categories.
Kraft’s outburst against the Steelers (seven catches, 143 yards, two touchdowns) puts him on pace for some ridiculous season totals. If his current trajectory holds, he’d finish the season with 73 catches for 1,139 yards and 15 touchdowns, a great season for anybody, much less a tight end from a small school who was barely on the field until late in his rookie year. Those numbers wouldn’t just be career highs, either. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein notes that they’d be the best marks by a Packers’ tight end in the team’s long history in multiple categories.
Needless to say, they’d all be career highs for Kraft, too. It’s easy to see why he’s piled up 19 targets over the Packers last two games. I’d throw to him, too, if that’s what he’s going to do with the ball, especially since he’s doing so much damage after the catch: according to Pro Football Focus, Kraft is averaging 11.3 yards after the catch per catch, the highest total of any tight end in the league.
Doubs can’t quite boast numbers like Kraft, but his stats are nothing to sneeze at. Doubs has had at least 50 receiving yards in three of the Packers’ last four games (he missed that threshold by six yards against the Steelers) and has been one of Jordan Love’s most sought-after targets on third downs. Only Kraft has more third down targets than Doubs so far this year, and he only beats Doubts by one (12 to 11).
If he keeps up the pace, Doubs will finish the season with 65 catches for 850 yards and nine touchdowns, career highs across the board. I have to think Doubs wouldn’t mind putting up some big numbers as he heads toward free agency this offseason — nothing moves the wide receiver market like big counting stats, and in the Packers’ sharing-centric passing offense, those are pretty darn good numbers.
Of course, as long as the Packers keep winning, it doesn’t really matter who’s putting up what stats. Still, it’s good to see the Packers’ most valuable receiving assets start to record stats that match their impact on the offense. Now, if we could just get the Matthew Golden bomb to finally connect.
