From nowhere, ESPN's NFL insider posted on Monday night a report indicating that Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst had a meeting with Jayden Reed's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to clarify his role as the team's top wide receiver despite the selections of Matthew Golden and Savion Williams in the draft.

The report, though, leaves more questions than answers behind.

Packers GM Brian Guteksunst met last week with Jayden Reed’s agent Drew Rosenahus to clarify the wide receiver’s status in Green Bay after the team drafted Matthew Golden and Savion Williams. The team said it will not affect Reed’s status as its top receiver, per source. pic.twitter.com/ZsysCOqmXB

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 12, 2025

It doesn't make much sense

The situation certainly feels like agent posturing based on Schefter's wording, but it's still a weird development. First and foremost, because the Packers never treated Reed as a true WR1.

He was first in snaps among wide receivers (63.19%), right ahead of Romeo Doubs (60.89%), however it was frequent for him to be on the sidelines when the Packers played with 12 or 21 personnel. Reed was second in targets last year (75), right behind Dontayvion Wicks (76) and right ahead of Doubs (72).

So yes, Reed was the most productive wide receiver on the Packers in each of the past two years. And it's absolutely his merit. However, it wasn't necessarily by design, it was a byproduct of his efficiency and explosiveness.

If Golden comes in and produces at a high level from the get go, the Packers can't promise that Reed will still be the top target. Because that's not how the offense is built.

It's natural for the player and his representatives to want clarity about the role and how team decisions affect them. It's weird that it needed to be leaked to the media, especially considering that this is not a contract year for Reed.

The big question remains

While Schefter tweeted an offseason question, there is a real regular season question still up in the air. The Packers were not necessarily expected to draft Matthew Golden in the first place, because of his size and weight. But with Tetairoa McMillan off the board in the first, Gutekunst thought Golden's value was too good to pass up.

The big question mark is if and how Golden and Reed can consistently play together.

That's one of the reasons why James Koh, from Reception Perception, was surprised the Packers took Golden in the first round.

"I get that he's got the speed. He's 5-11 though, and he's 191 pounds. He ran a 4'29, awesome, but he's not a good man bater. He's pretty good against zone and average at best against press coverage," Koh said during their podcast. "So when I'm looking at this wide receiver room, I'm looking at Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, what they need is an X receiver that can crack the top open and get open, or they just need any wide receiver to get consistently open against man coverage. I like Matthew Golden, I think he's a good player, I just wonder what his fit is and what his role is on this particular Green Bay team."

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The need for an X receiver was the big reason why, before the draft, some of the frequent names thrown out as potential Packers targets were Jayden Higgins and Tre Harris.

Golden and Reed are different players, to be clear. Reed is more of a natural slot, while Golden is more adaptable to play outside despite his size. They both do have a worse success rate against man coverage, but they are different and have success in different types of routes. Ultimately, head coach Matt LaFleur is creative enough to make it work in the passing game, but he also demands his receivers to block. And this is the real issue.

"The run game, and the stuff they run off those looks, concerns me a bit," says Dusty Evely, Packers Xs & Os analyst for Acme Packing Company. "Reed and Golden are both willing blockers, which is something you can use. You can also use speed to run off blockers on the edge, but that really only gets you so far. I've got a theory on that, though. They run a lot of condensed fronts, which works for them, but it also brings more defensive bodies up to the line, which forces the receivers to be better blockers. If you've got Reed and Golden out there, you're compounding the issue."

And that's ultimately why Jayden Reed hasn't played more snaps. When the Packers are in three-receiver sets, he is the one not blocking much, but that's hard to pull off when there are only two receivers on the field.

Now, if Golden is also a willing but not positive blocker, it might get harder to get both on the field at the same time.

How it can be solved

If your two best and most productive wide receivers are not great blockers, well, maybe stop asking your receivers to block as a concept. This would be a huge adjustment for Matt LaFleur, but putting more beef along the offensive line could soften the impact.

With the Packers signing Aaron Banks in free agency and taking Anthony Belton in the second round of the draft, the team added almost 700 pounds of linemen in two players.

"The push to get bigger on the line is so that they can win at the point of attack without throwing more bodies into the mix," Evely explained. "I can see a more power-spread look from this offense in 2025. You're removing bodies from the box, making things easier for the QB, and taking the load off the receivers when it comes to blocking. They would still be able to run their inside power stuff, provided the line moves people like you hope they will, and the crack/toss stuff is still on the table. Wicks is a great cracker, you have Reed or Golden on the toss side as the vertical runner, and the other one on the backside."

The Packers don't have a normal wide receiver room. Romeo Doubs, their X schematically speaking, might be the third or fourth most productive weapon. The most talented ones, Reed and Golden, are lighter and smaller, and this is not an Andy Reid scheme preaching for speed and a finesse run game.

It will be intriguing to watch how Matt LaFleur solves this puzzle. But if there's an offensive mind capable of doing so, it's the head coach of the Packers.

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