A year after the Packers traded Davante Adams and let Marquez Valdes-Scantling walk in free agency, the team has seen Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb rejoin Aaron Rodgers. Following the Jets’ receiver moves, the Packers are sporting a pass-catching corps far less experienced than the one that generated scrutiny last offseason.
Matt LaFleur did not indicate a veteran addition was on the horizon, but the Packers are still looking. They brought in Keke Coutee for a workout, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson tweets. Coutee worked as an auxiliary wide receiver for the Texans, but the former fourth-round pick has not contributed much as a receiver over the past two years.
No signing is imminent, though Wilson adds (on Twitter) the Packers like the five-year veteran’s versatility. Coutee, who has experience as a punt returner, could be an option once the Packers determine how their receiver room looks coming out of their offseason program. The Pack begin their OTA sessions next week and will wrap their offseason work in mid-June at minicamp.
Coutee served as a regular punt returner with the Colts last season. That represents his most notable work since leaving Houston. During Deshaun Watson‘s final season as an active Texans quarterback (2020), Coutee finished with a career-high 400 receiving yards and three touchdowns. While the Texans assembled a deep receiving corps that year — one housing Cobb, Brandin Cooks and Will Fuller — Coutee carved out a role. The Texans waived the slot player on roster-cutdown day in August 2021, leading him to Indianapolis.
Post-Cobb and Lazard, the Packers have a wideout room full of rookie-contract players. Second-round pick Jayden Reed joins 2022 second-rounder Christian Watson and 2022 fourth-rounder Romeo Doubs. Green Bay, as it did in 2022 and 2018, added three wideouts in the draft last month. Fifth-rounder Dontayvion Wicks and seventh-rounder Grant Dubose are also in the fold. The Packers’ pass-catching contingent — one also moving on from Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis — carries two rookie tight ends (Luke Musgrave, Tucker Kraft).
A veteran presence certainly could be of use here, though Coutee is not the best available target. Jarvis Landry resides in free agency, but the receiver group thins out behind the former Pro Bowler. Kenny Golladay is coming off a woeful Giants tenure, while T.Y. Hilton and Julio Jones are at or near the end of their great careers. Fuller, who did not play last season, joins Breshad Perriman, Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle as other available wideouts.