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After looking back at the Green Bay Packers receivers in 2008 and 2009, the 2010 season is the final stop. According to Football Outsiders, it was the best season of Aaron Rodgers career. And the best for his top receiver too.
Using the wide receiver and tight end stats from Football Outsiders, I've created the following table for the 2010 season:
| 2010 | DYAR | Passes | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jennings | 330 | 125 | 3 |
| Nelson | 115 | 64 | 40 |
| Finley | 109 | 26 | 13 |
| Jones | 59 | 87 | 52 |
| Driver | 27 | 84 | 71 |
| D. Lee | 17 | 12 | N/A |
| Quarless | 12 | 33 | 31 |
If you're not familiar with their stats, DYAR is a cumulative total quantifying each player's production over the course of the entire season. Donald Lee isn't ranked because the number of passes thrown his way was so low. His lack of touches also made it a relatively easy decision to release him since he wasn't producing enough to warrant paying the final year on his four-year contract.
In 2009, the production was spread out between the top 3 receivers.
But in 2010, Jermichael Finley (imagine his stats if he had been healthy all season) only played in 4 games (plus 1 quarter in Washington) and Donald Driver's production fell off a cliff as he struggled with injuries throughout the season. James Jones had trouble with dropped passes, and failed to emerge as one of their top 3 receivers. Jordy Nelson was quiet most of the season. He finally had his first TD reception on November 28th, and his first 100 yard receiving game on December 26. But he still ended up with a solid season.
The load fell onto their star receiver, Greg Jennings, and he had his best statistical season of his career according to Football Outsiders, besting his previous best from 2007. His production was up nearly 50% while the number of passes thrown to him was almost the same. A true No. 1 WR, but they do have to work on spreading the load out better in 2011.