Offensive Coordinator Breakdown – Green Bay Packers
Fantasy Football Passing Game Impact:
During the years 2008-2017 in which Rodgers was the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, their offense totaled 9,814 plays. The Packers threw on 57% of those plays in which he completed 64.8% of pass attempts and averaged 33 touchdown passes per season.
Let’s find some similarities to what Rodgers likes to do and with what Mariota did last season. In terms of targeting running backs Marcus Mariota was 18th in the league at just 16.4% while Rodgers was even lower at 15.3% and 22nd in the league. I do find this strange as I have heard in a couple of press conferences with LaFleur how much he wants to incorporate the running backs in the passing game in Green Bay.
While it was fun finding the one thing Mariota and Rodgers had in common, let’s see who Rodgers likes to target the most and focus on that. Last season Rodgers targeted slot receivers on 25.6% of throws, which ranked as the 4th highest amount amongst quarterbacks. I would say that is very good news for starting slot receiver Geronimo Allison.
Another area in which he likes to target is wherever Devonta Adams is running his routes. In what was his first season as the Packers number one receiver Adams was targeted on 20.8% of Rodgers throws. Well after gaining Rodgers trust that number jumped to 26.4% last season while also being targeted a league-high 31 times in the red-zone.
Fantasy Football Running Game Impact:
Entering last season Aaron Jones was suspended for the first two games, which gave Jamaal Williams a chance to no pun-intended run with the opportunity. He ran for a putrid 3.8 yards per carry and allowed Aaron Jones to lock down the starting role after running for 728 yards in just 12 games. In those 12 games, he averaged 5.5 yards per carry and eight touchdowns. He did not take his success for granted, as he reportedly showed up in great shape and eager to continue on his first season success.
The Titans went out and signed Dion Lewis to a four-year 19.8 million dollar deal as they were in need of a third down back to pair with bruiser Derrick Henry. In what is an extremely troubling trend with LaFleur, Lewis was used poorly and had a really disappointing year. He had a bell-cow back that he didn’t use till the final four games of the season in which he exploded for 585 yards and 7 touchdowns. Instead, he had a five-foot-eight 185 pound running back carry the ball 155 times while he earned 3.3 yards per-carry.
The running game situation should start and end with Aaron Jones getting 225-275 carries next season while rookie Dexter Williams and Jamaal Williams grind out the additional 150-195 additional carries.