Green Bay Packers wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks hasn’t had the impact he would like through the first month of the regular season, but it’s not for a lack of getting open.
According to Pro Football Focus, Wicks leads the NFL in separation percentage among receivers with at least 25 opportunities. Wicks’ has created separation on 23 out of 28 opportunities for a separation percentage of 82.14 percent. New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave ranks second behind Wicks but is a couple of percentage points behind at 79.55 percent.
This is the first season that Pro Football Focus has kept track of “separation percentage,” a stat for determining which receivers are consistently getting open. The football analytics company states, “Separation percentage measures how often a receiver beats the coverage to get open rather than benefiting from a defense more focused on limiting yards after the catch or stopping them short of the first down.” PFF also measures separation percentage on routes where receivers don’t get targeted.
Wicks is only in his second season but has already proven to be one of the best wide receivers at creating separation. The former fifth-round pick has shown to be a good route runner who can shake press coverage with his releases off the line of scrimmage.
However, one area that Wicks needs to clean up is his drops. After dropping only two passes in 2023, Wicks has already dropped three passes in the first four games. Two of those drops came during Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings, where Wicks was targeted 13 times but only had five receptions. He was also 0-for-3 on contested catches.
Quarterback Jordan Love was clearly shaking off some rust against Minnesota and could have used a little extra help from his receivers. Even though Wicks wasn’t playing up to his usual standard, Love shouldered some of the blame well.
“A lot of it was just me. I was making it really hard on him for a lot of those catches,” said Love. “As a quarterback, I always have that confidence in those guys and that trust with all my guys. We all make mistakes. It’s not going to be perfect, but the ball is going to keep coming to you, you know what I mean? We all got to be able to go out there and overcome lack of execution early and continue to make plays. Those guys all know the ball is going to keep coming to them.”
Despite not always being on the same page, Love continued to look Wicks’ way throughout Sunday’s game. He found Wicks in the endzone on the offense’s final drive for a 17-yard touchdown that made it a 2-point game with under a minute remaining. Unfortunately, Green Bay had no timeouts left and was forced to attempt an onside kick out of desperation, which Vikings tight end Josh Oliver easily recovered.
Currently, Wicks has 108 receiving yards on eight catches from 22 targets, resulting in a catch percentage of just 36.4 percent. However, going forward, don’t expect Wicks’ opportunities to decrease, especially with Christian Watson expected to miss some time with an ankle injury. Love will continue to look for Wicks in the passing game, and the data suggests that Wicks is more than likely going to be open.
