It’s a tale as old as time. The rookies are treated like the next big things; the veterans are treated like yesterday’s news.
In a story pinpointing the most underrated player for each team, Pro Football Focus picked receiver Romeo Doubs for the Green Bay Packers.
Doubs is entering Year 4. In three seasons, he’s failed to hit 60 receptions or 700 yards. His only 100-yard game came in the playoff blowout of Dallas, when he caught six passes for 151 yards. He added four catches for 83 yards a week later in the playoff loss at San Francisco. Highlighted by those two games, he’s second on the team with more than 1,500 receiving yards the last two seasons.
“Doubs’ ability to step up deep downfield and come down with contested catches has been crucial for Green Bay,” wrote PFF’s Jonathon Macri, “as he not only leads the team in contested-catch rate over the past two seasons (58.7 percent) but also ranks 11th among 104 qualifying wide receivers over that span.”
The Packers don’t have a No. 1 receiver. Doubs is about as close as it gets on third down, though. In 2024, he led the team with 17 receptions and 14 first downs. Overall, Jordan Love completed 52.7 percent of his passes on third down. That went to 77.3 percent on passes to Doubs.
It was a challenging season for Doubs, who was unable to build upon his 2023 playoff success. He was suspended for one game, missed a couple games with one concussion and suffered another during the playoff loss to Philadelphia. He had his moments, such as eight catches for 94 yards against Houston, but he had only one more game with five-plus catches. A 1,000-yard season requires a player to average only 58.8 yards per game. Doubs hit that mark on only two other occasions.
Plus, Doubs is a confounding player at times because he’s got excellent hands but also dropped too many passes. Of 84 receivers who were targeted at least 50 times, his 9.8 percent drop rate was the 19th-highest.
The Steelers reportedly reached out about Doubs’ availability after they traded George Pickens to the Cowboys. With Christian Watson coming back from a torn ACL, it’s hard to believe the Packers would trade Doubs and force themselves to rely on rookies Matthew Golde and Savion Williams.
Doubs is entering his final season of his rookie deal, making this a huge season in terms of his next contract.
“I want guys who want the ball,” passing game coordinator Jason Vrable said this week. “If they’re not (with) the game on the line, when the ball has to be in the air and they’re not mad that it didn’t go to them, then we’ve got the wrong guy. I want guys who have trained, believed in themselves and [have] competitive greatness to the point when the game is on the line in front of all of Lambeau and everyone watching, you are that guy.
“That’s what Davante became. He wasn’t in Year 1 or 2. You work at it and then you become that. I tell all our guys, I want all you guys to get your second contract, whether it’s here or somewhere. If our whole building is pushing in the same direction, all the guys, I want them to have success in life. I want them to have 10-year careers where they’re both financially and numerically successful. That’s what my job is as a coach. I’m going to push them all the same at every time. I’ve always said, you get what you earn. No more, no less. Just the laws of compensation of what you’re going to get, it usually works out that way in this league.”
A fourth-round pick in 2022, Doubs was the 19th receiver drafted. From the 28-receiver draft class, he ranks sixth with 147 receptions, sixth with 1,700 yards and tied for first with Drake London with 15 receiving touchdowns.
Doubs made PFF’s list of the top free-agent receivers for 2026.
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