{"id":302296,"date":"2025-08-20T03:49:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T03:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/302296\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T03:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T03:49:15","slug":"dont-worry-be-happy-packers-wideouts-jayden-reed-dontayvion-wicks-downplay-offenses-lack-of-time-together-top-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/302296\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t worry, be happy? Packers wideouts Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks downplay offense\u2019s lack of time together | Top Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

GREEN BAY \u2014 Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks weren\u2019t even close to being born when Bobby McFerrin\u2019s iconic \u201cDon’t Worry Be Happy\u201d<\/a> topped the Billboard charts in September 1988.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the two wide receivers might as well have been whistling the catchy tune throughout the Green Bay Packers\u2019 locker room on Tuesday when it was suggested to them that the offense is running out of time for getting on the same page before the regular season starts.<\/p>\n

After all, only one training-camp practice remains (Thursday\u2019s joint practice with the Seattle Seahawks at Ray Nitschke Field) and after Saturday\u2019s preseason finale between the teams, the Sept. 7 regular-season opener against the reigning NFC North-champion Detroit Lions will be two weeks away.<\/p>\n

And their star quarterback, Jordan Love, is a week removed from surgery on his left (non-throwing) hand to repair a torn ligament in his thumb \u2014 limiting him to 7-on-7 periods and rendering him unable to take center-quarterback exchanges.<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning out of time?\u201d Wicks said, scrunching up his nose at the question. \u201cI feel like we\u2019ve got a lot of time. We\u2019ve got a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wicks is certainly entitled to his opinion, but lot of time has passed, too, since the Packers\u2019 top wide receivers and quarterback Jordan Love have been on the field together.<\/p>\n

Wicks has missed three weeks of practice with a calf injury, and he wasn\u2019t participating in the team\u2019s 17th practice of training camp on Tuesday, either.<\/p>\n

He will have missed all three preseason games and while he has done some side work while wearing his helmet this week, he hasn\u2019t been on the field for a full practice since dropping out on July 29.<\/p>\n

Reed, meanwhile, is out of the walking boot he was wearing on the sideline of the preseason opener against the New York Jets on Aug. 9, but he still isn\u2019t practicing and hasn\u2019t been reduced to being a spectator ever since.<\/p>\n

On top of that, Christian Watson will spend all of training camp on the physically unable to perform list as he recovers from offseason surgery to repair the torn ACL in his right knee he suffered in the Jan. 5 regular-season finale and will start the year on the PUP list, meaning he\u2019ll miss at least the first four games.<\/p>\n

And rookie third-round pick Savion Williams, whose offseason work was significantly curtailed because he underwent shoulder surgery at the end of his final college season at TCU, has missed most of camp with a concussion and a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

No wonder head coach Matt LaFleur acknowledged that it\u2019s a \u201cgreat question\u201d last week when someone wondered aloud how his offense could achieve synchronicity with all the time the principal players are missing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The only two top-tier wide receivers who\u2019ve managed to stay healthy for the majority of training camp are rookie first-round pick Matthew Golden, and fourth-year man Romeo Doubs, who missed practice time with a back injury he suffered last week but returned to action on Monday.<\/p>\n

Asked Tuesday if the most experienced wideouts\u2019 time on the sideline forced Golden to accelerate his maturation process, LaFleur replied, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say necessarily because of that. Has he gotten more reps? Possibly. But I think he would have gotten a lot of reps regardless.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of guys are getting more reps than maybe you\u2019d usually get if you had everybody available. I think the more reps you get, the better you get, the more you get to showcase what you can do, and get ingrained into the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The argument both Wicks and Reed made in separate conversations Tuesday was that they are already ingrained in the offense and have built up so much connectivity and chemistry with their quarterback that they won\u2019t have trouble picking up where they left off once they do return to action.<\/p>\n

\u201cChemistry is always important, I think. That\u2019s just this game, man. But you\u2019ve got to be able to adapt and change to whatever\u2019s going on,\u201d Reed said. \u201cI just am big on living in the moment, man. And then when the time is the time, that\u2019s when you get back to doing what you were doing. I do think we have a lot of chemistry together. I feel like we\u2019ve had more time together than we\u2019ve had away from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Wicks: \u201cWe\u2019re together a lot. We\u2019ve been together for three offseasons. So there\u2019s chemistry there. When we get back, we\u2019ll get it right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know \u201810,\u2019 \u201810\u2019 knows us. So I wouldn\u2019t say missing this time affects it. It\u2019s going to take a little time to get back in football cardio, football shape, but I would say that\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s really a factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say our chemistry is a big concern. We put a lot of work in together, we know each other. He knows us well, what type of players we are, what routes we run and how we run them. So I feel like chemistry, it\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wicks said he is simply taking his return to action \u201cday-to-day,\u201d and that \u201cwhenever I feel at my best,\u201d he\u2019ll be back out there. Reed, meanwhile, insisted that he\u2019d be playing in Saturday\u2019s game if it was a regular-season matchup.<\/p>\n

He still has soreness in his left foot, he said, and admitted it could be an issue for him all season, even with the rest it has gotten over the last two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to get back to where I was. Obviously, I\u2019ve still got a little soreness going, so I\u2019m just trying to get used to the feeling [and] just trying to work my way back to it,\u201d Wicks said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you\u2019ve just got to live the reality of it. I hope it goes away, but ain\u2019t nothing promised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yep, nothing to worry about. Right?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just following the protocol. Me, if I had the choice, I would go out there tomorrow,\u201d Reed insisted. \u201cI don\u2019t feel great, but I would do it. But I also have to protect myself to be at the best I can be for Week 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bCOPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREEN BAY \u2014 Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks weren\u2019t even close to being born when Bobby McFerrin\u2019s iconic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[57308,1501,3992,7,41,345,2514,2513,763,1724,3031,701,6,428,3995,904,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-302296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-bobby-mcferrin","9":"tag-christian-watson","10":"tag-dontayvion-wicks","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-green-bay","13":"tag-green-bay-packers","14":"tag-greenbay","15":"tag-greenbaypackers","16":"tag-jayden-reed","17":"tag-jordan-love","18":"tag-matt-lafleur","19":"tag-matthew-golden","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-packers","22":"tag-romeo-doubs","23":"tag-savion-williams","24":"tag-seattle-seahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115059056196591241","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}