Earlier today, we looked at the number of snaps each WR and TE in the NFC East had this season in which they went out on routes on passing downs. Victor Cruz had the most yards per pass play, with 2.87 yards per passing play.Obviously, he has made the most of his playing time. With that in mind, I figured why not just take a look at the entire league? So… Here you go. Victor Cruz is 3rd. In fact, three Giants are in the Top 15. The Cowboys’ Laurent Robinson is 10th. The Top 15 contains some pretty good company (minimum of 150 snaps):
Jimmy Kempski's blog is focused on the NFC East, he's also an editor at Bleeding Green Nation, so his article is about the receivers in that division. But he also crunched the numbers for the four Packer receivers with over 150 snaps:
| Player | Rank | # of Snaps | Yards | Yards/play |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordy Nelson | 1 | 189 | 570 | 3.01 |
| Greg Jennings | 8 | 301 | 723 | 2.40 |
| Jermichael Finley | 62 | 261 | 378 | 1.45 |
| Donald Driver | 116 | 180 | 125 | 0.69 |
Nelson and Jennings are having great seasons, and I doubt that comes as a big surprise.
As good as Finley can be, you don't see him sprinting deep down field like Nelson, Jennings or James Jones. For as much discussion as there's been about whether Finley's really a wide receiver, the Packers don't use him like their actual wide receivers. Even if they do line him up wide to create a mismatch.
Driver comes in as the third lowest rated receiver by this measurement. Maybe he's become a forgotten player in the offense, but it looks like the years and the miles have caught up to him. I don't have it broken down game-to-game, but I would expect that his snaps have been decreasing since the start of the season.
Jones deserves more playing time. With 347 yards receiving this season, he'd probably come in ahead of Finley and could even be a lot higher.