Second-Year Scouting Report: Romeo Doubs

August is underway, and we’re getting closer and closer to the 2023 regular season. Best ball leagues have been drafting for months now and they are getting more popular now that we understand landing spots for veteran free agents and rookies.

Every year, rookie fever emerges, and the previous class gets pushed aside by the shiny new NFL toys. This usually results in a rookie surge of ADP, which opens up pockets of value, especially with players from the previous class who may not be as established as some long-time veterans in the league. This happens even though most fantasy analysts (and players) understand the largest leap occurs from year 1 to year 2.

Throughout the summer, FTN will be releasing second-year scouting reports to keep these players fresh in fantasy managers’ minds. The series shifts today to Romeo Doubs, the second-year wide receiver with the Green Bay Packers. This article is a breakdown of Doubs’ first season and what fantasy managers can expect from him going forward in 2023 and beyond.

Romeo Doubs, WR, Green Bay Packers

At Nevada, Romeo Doubs was a four-year contributor, racking up at least 500 receiving yards each season, but he truly emerged in his last two years when he totaled over 2,100 yards and 20 touchdowns. Without the freaky size and athleticism that top prospects typically have, Doubs fell to the fourth round where he was selected by the Green Bay Packers.

His rookie campaign ebbed and flowed like it does for many first-year wideouts. At times, he was playing nearly all of the offensive snaps, but other times, he struggled to get on the field behind fellow rookie Christian Watson and veterans like Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. Now, entering year two, Doubs has the opportunity to establish himself as a key cog for the Packers’ new signal-caller. 

What Went Wrong

Despite producing at a fairly high level for a fourth-round rookie, Doubs’ first season wasn’t all roses. Inconsistency was the name of the game as he ranked outside the top-50 receivers in eight of his 13 games, making it difficult for anyone to start him when he actually did play well. Leading up to his lone top-12 finish were finishes of 55th and 76th. After his best game, he finished 25th which is solid, but he followed that up with 70th, 56th and 102nd. 

Inconsistency didn’t just plague him on the fantasy gridiron though. Doubs would flash impressive ball skills and natural hand-eye coordination at times, but he also registered the third-highest drop rate of any receiver with 40-plus targets. All of that variability led to just a 59% route participation despite the fact that receiver snaps were up for grabs in Green Bay.

What Went Right

When Doubs did get on the field, Aaron Rodgers actually targeted him at a pretty high rate (0.23 targets per route run), and those aforementioned ball skills showed up in the form of catching all seven of his contested targets – the second most of any receiver with a 100% contested catch rate per FTN’s advanced receiving data. And while Doubs wasn’t the same aDOT specialist that his counterpart Christian Watson was, he managed to make some plays after the catch, illustrated by his above-average 4.7 YAC per reception. 

The other thing working in Doubs’ favor is that the more snaps he saw, the more fantasy points he produced. Well, duh, right? Sure, that’s a bit obvious, but the point is that Doubs capitalized on extra opportunity. According to the FTN Splits Tool, in five games with at least 50 snaps, Doubs averaged 13 PPR points per game compared to 4.8 points in his other eight games. There is going to be a lot of opportunity again in Green Bay, and he could be poised to take advantage of it.

Prognosis Entering 2023

Entering 2023, Doubs is in a position to take his shaky year one and build on it. With Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb following Aaron Rodgers to New Jersey, and Robert Tonyan in Chicago, there’s little competition for targets compared to last season. Still, he’ll have to fend off rookie wideout Jayden Reed and veteran running back Aaron Jones if he wants to be the No. 2 option behind Christian Watson.

The ceiling looks a bit capped for Doubs though, as it seems unlikely that he overtakes Watson as the true alpha. On top of that, Jordan Love is a relative unknown, so anyone drafting his pass-catchers should prepare for volatility. But that’s actually part of the intrigue with Doubs as well. He’s only in his second season, he has some good games under his belt, and he has a very realistic path to being the number two target in his offense. Of course, his range of outcomes is wide, but as a nearly free pick at the end of drafts, I’ll happily take the shot on FTN’s consensus WR56.

Dynasty Outlook

2023 will tell us a lot about Doubs’ long-term outlook, and I’m going to buy in before any potential explosion or increase in value. Baked into his value right now is the fact that everyone is purely guessing how good or bad Jordan Love is. I believe in Love, and if Love is real, Romeo Doubs is likely being undervalued as a dynasty asset. A 23-year-old receiver who registered average to slightly above average target-earning metrics and flashed impressive ball skills is plenty to bank on, but toss in an unknown quarterback who isn’t being considered as a fantasy asset yet, and you have a recipe to strike before the iron’s hot.