Richard Rodgers, tight end
FOX Sports Wisconsin's Paul Imig gives an in-depth statistical analysis and film study of every Packers player in his annual offseason checkup. You can find every report here.
Season stats (playoffs included): 18 games, five starts (543 snaps; 44.7 percent of total offensive snaps); 25 catches, 35 targets, 273 yards, three touchdowns, one dropped pass, two forced missed tackles, one penalty committed; two sacks allowed and two quarterback hurries allowed in 39 pass-blocking situations
ProFootballFocus.com season rating: minus-12.3 (ranked last among Packers offensive players; ranked No. 53 out of 63 NFL tight ends)
Best game: Week 12 win at Minnesota (played 30 of 66 offensive snaps); one catch for one yard, one touchdown; 1.8 PFF rating
Worst game: Week 3 loss at Detroit (played 11 of 54 offensive snaps); zero catches, zero targets; minus-1.8 PFF rating
Expectations at the start of training camp: Medium
Expectations were ... Met
Looking live: Richard Rodgers being drafted by the Packers in the third round (No. 98 overall) was somewhat of a surprise given that most national outlets rated him as a fifth- or sixth-round prospect. Despite the familiar last name, there were a lot of unknowns about Rodgers. In college at the University of California, his weight bounced around by more than 30 pounds and he essentially played a different position when the program underwent a coaching change and switched to a spread offense. In Rodgers' final collegiate season, he was almost never used as a blocker next to the tackles, instead spending his time in the slot and lined up in the backfield. Tight ends coach Jerry Fontenot described him on draft night as "primarily a route-runner."
During rookie orientation camp in May, Rodgers called the position he played as a junior an "inside receiver."
Fontenot added of Rodgers: "What I see on film is a guy that is a precise route runner for his size. He's got good length, he's got decent quickness off the ball, but what he really excels at is he's got really good hands, catching the football, and he's a very detailed route runner. He's a smart kid in sitting down and talking to him, very understanding of schemes and concepts. Does a really good job with the game mentally."
There was going to be a learning curve with Rodgers in the NFL. Mike McCarthy admitted as much early on. But McCarthy also said Rodgers is "very productive, very natural, understands the game. I think the game comes naturally to him."
In training camp, Rodgers showed off his hands early and often. He had an impressive catch on Day 2 of practice with Clay Matthews on him, which earned Rodgers an honorable mention for the "Movin' On Up" category of FOXSportsWisconsin.com's Training Camp Report series. Rodgers continued to catch the ball well and on Day 8 of practice hauled in a pass down the seam from Aaron Rodgers and took off running during a pass-under-pressure drill.
Rodgers started all four preseason games at tight end and continued to solidify himself in that role by making noteworthy catch after noteworthy catch in practice.
Upon further review: Rodgers' season seemed to be everything the Packers expected it to be, both from the positive and negative side of it.
He was very reliable with his hands, dropping only one pass and catching the ball 25 times. Rodgers was not a featured-role offensive threat like Jermichael Finley was. However, of the 242 times Rodgers went on a passing route, he was dependable when the ball was thrown to him. There was arguably no more defining play for Rodgers than his touchdown catch at Minnesota when Aaron Rodgers scrambled the opposite direction and threw all the way across the field to find the tight end after he had gotten free.
As a run-blocker, though, Rodgers showed the learning curve that McCarthy and the staff knew was likely to exist. According to the ProFootballFocus ratings system, there were only two worse run-blocking tight ends in the entire league. Despite that, the Packers continued to use Rodgers in run-blocking situations, putting him in that role 262 times. There was the memorable Week 3 play in Detroit when Eddie Lacy was tackled for a safety after Rodgers was manhandled at the line of scrimmage and allowed the defense to get quickly into the backfield.
Andrew Quarless played more snaps (715) than Rodgers in the regular season (543). But for a rookie tight end who was an inside receiver in his junior season of college, it was still a lot of work and development for Rodgers.
Overall 2014 grade: C
Status for 2015: One-hundred percent chance of being on the Packers' active roster to begin the 2015 season. Quarless has one year remaining on his contract and the once supposed future of the position in Green Bay, Brandon Bostick, is now a Viking. That leaves Rodgers as the actual future of the tight end position for the Packers. It remains to be seen whether his ceiling is very high, or if Rodgers is one of those players who will be around a long time but not make a huge impact. McCarthy is obviously invested in giving him every opportunity to succeed, but Rodgers is neither a good blocker right now or a threat that defenses have to account for in the passing game. Rodgers just turned 23 years old, so there's plenty of time for him to become all of that. Finding a Finley-esque receiving tight end should be among Ted Thompson's top three priorities in the upcoming draft.
Next: Cornerback Sam Shields
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