After Drop-Plagued Season, Dontayvion Wicks Ready to Rebound

That’s exactly what happened. During the final five games, Wicks looked much closer to the rookie-year version of himself by catching 18-of-24 passes with only one drop.

“I would say people really don’t see the mental aspect of it,” he said. “I was going through a lot last year. Man, it was hard. It was hard getting through it mentally. Everything wasn’t going my way, how I expected it, but it cleaned up toward midseason and I started to have fun again.

“Once you have fun, like Vrabes says a lot, the ball finds energy. When you’re happy for each other, happy for the players that’s making plays – we’ve got a lot of playmakers, so you might not get a ball every now and then. So, just keeping that mental strong and going onto the next play. 

“When you’ve got the energy, the ball comes your way, so just staying focused and not worrying about what’s coming your way, what’s not coming your way, controlling what you can control. When the opportunities do come, capitalize, and then that’ll make way for more opportunities. That’s really the focus this year is capitalizing when they do come my way.”

Capitalizing on opportunities will be the key given the abundance of potential playmakers. Not only are all the receivers back from last year aside from Christian Watson, who is coming back from a torn ACL, but the Packers drafted receivers Matthew Golden and Savion Williams in the first and third rounds, tight end Tucker Kraft could be a bigger part of the offense, and tight end Luke Musgrave and running back MarShawn Lloyd could be difference-makers after injury-plagued seasons.

That’s why Wicks said his goals aren’t statistical. Rather, they’re “staying strong mentally.” Last year, he ranked second on the team in targets, even while finishing with the second-highest drop percentage among NFL receivers, because of his elite get-open percentage.

“When the ball comes my way, I’ve got to make a play. That’s my job,” Wicks said. “Just being there, being around the ball more, when my opportunities do come, that leads to trust with 10 and also with the coaches. I know I can be there and make the plays like I’ve been in OTAs and today. It’s making those plays so they can trust me when we go out there on Sundays.”

Wicks, who said he’s in a “good place right now,” credited his teammates with helping him through last year’s slump. It wasn’t as if he was the only player who dropped passes. It wasn’t as if he was the only reason why a passing game that entered the season with such high expectations stumbled rather than soared.

They’ll lean on each other again as this season approaches.

“I could talk to them because we’re all going through the same thing,” Wicks said. “We’re all going through hard times, hard things. We’re just trying to get over that hump and being the best we can be every day and trying to be 1 percent better every day. That’s the main goal of helping each other become better.

“Our receiver room is like a college relationship. It’s all young guys in there. We’re all feeling the same way. We’re all trying to get to the same thing so we all help each other out. When something’s not going good for one, we bring them up. As a receiver group, we all had some drops last year. In the room, we knew it ain’t just one. It’s all of us. So, we’ve all got to get better at this thing and we take off from there.”