GREEN BAY — What a difference a year makes is among the most overused clichés in sports.
It is also virtually impossible to look at where Romeo Doubs finds himself through four games this season, compare that to what happened after the fourth game of last season, and not have that phrase come to mind when thinking about the Green Bay Packers wide receiver.
As the Packers spend their Week 5 regrouping after a loss to the previously winless Cleveland Browns and last Sunday night’s 40-40 tie-that-felt-like-a-loss with the Dallas Cowboys, Doubs is coming off a three-touchdown game and has caught 13 passes for 179 yards and four TDs with zero drops on 19 targets.
None of the Packers’ wide receivers have been more productive — only tight end Tucker Kraft has more receptions (16), receiving yards (225) or targets (20) than Doubs — and Doubs has played 217 of the Packers’ 264 offensive snaps (82.2%) — most of any wideout on the roster.
Incredibly, 11 of his 13 receptions have gone for first downs. He’s caught four passes on third down, with all four catches converting first downs.
“Rome is who he is, man. He’s a dawg. I’m glad he’s getting the credit that he deserves,” Packers running back and offensive captain Josh Jacobs said after Doubs’ six receptions for 58 yards, including 2-, 1- and 15-yard touchdown catches from quarterback Jordan Love.
“I feel like whenever it’s a 50/50 ball, he’s going to win that. We love what he does for this team. He’s a difference maker for this team. [Defenses] have to start adjusting for him.
“He came up big, man, in a lot of the plays and a lot of the moments that we needed. Hopefully he can just keep stacking.”
Everything Jacobs said there is true, which is what makes it even harder to reconcile what Doubs has done so far this season with what he chose to do after four games a year ago.
With the Packers prepping for a crucial early-season road trip to face his hometown Los Angeles Rams, Doubs practiced and attended practices as normal on the Wednesday before that game.
But on Thursday, he didn’t show up for work at Lambeau Field, prompting team officials to go to his home to make sure he was OK. He then didn’t come to work on Friday, either, and the team suspended him for “conduct detrimental to the team” for one game.
He also sustained a pair of concussions — one against San Francisco on Nov. 24, the other in the team’s season-ending NFC wild card playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl LIX-champion Philadelphia Eagles. The first concussion caused him to miss two games; the second almost certainly would have forced him to sit out the Packers’ next playoff game had they advanced.
He finished the season with 46 catches for 601 yards and four touchdowns on 67 targets in his 13 games last season, and despite missing four games with the suspension, the concussion and an illness for the Jan. 5 regular-season finale, Doubs still finished second among wideouts in offensive snaps played (660, 60.9%).
Now in a contract year, Doubs will be a free agent in March and could cash in if he stays healthy and continues at his current pace — and remains a focal point of the offense even after Christian Watson (on the physically unable to perform list after a torn ACL last season0 and Jayden Reed (on injured reserve after breaking his collarbone in Week 2) return to the lineup.
Back in 2023, before last year’s drama, Doubs led the Packers’ wide receivers in offensive snaps played (845) and targets (96), tied for the team lead in touchdown receptions (eight) and ranked second on the team in both catches (59) and yards (674).
And as a rookie fourth-round pick in 2022, he caught 42 passes for 425 yards and three TDs while playing with four-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“In four years, Rome has done everything the right way. I know that there was a little blip on the screen [last year], but I think that was just a one-off,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said earlier this week during his bye week Q&A session with reporters.
“He just does everything the right way in regards to how he prepares, how he supports his teammates. So it’s really cool to see a guy have success like that. And I would expect that to continue because he approaches the game the right way.
“He comes to work every day with the right mentality, he puts the work in, he does extra work, he does all the little things required to help you become the best version of you. It’s really cool to see.”
From the understated, soft-spoken Doubs’ perspective, discussing how far he’s come in the past year wasn’t something he was interested in doing.
What he is interested in is getting the Packers back on a roll after their 2-0 start and helping them do so by continuing to be productive.
“Honestly, bro, this is a team thing. I would not like to speak upon my end,” Doubs said after the tie with the Cowboys. “Obviously, [the game] was pretty good on my end, but I think there’s always a bigger picture in this league.
“I just know what we’re capable of as a team. I’ve been in this system long enough where obviously I’m really confident about what we do and who we have.”
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