Why Allen Lazard's Time in Green Bay is Over

Allen Lazard seems frustrated. A former undrafted free agent who only arrived in Green Bay after the Jacksonville Jaguars — the Jaguars! — gave up on him, he seems to have read the writing on the wall. It’s over in Green Bay.

After the Packers’ season-ending loss to the Lions, Lazard was asked if he’d given any thought to his future with the Packers. Lazard said he hadn’t, but offered this nugget.

“Going into the game, I had a realization that my first game here and potentially my last game, which it is, was going to be versus the Lions at home. I took just a few moments to kind of soak it all in and just, like, pat myself on the back and just be thankful for this opportunity and this experience to be here for four-plus years now. To see the growth that I’ve made not only on the field but more so off the field, coming into my own and everything. I feel like a lot of times throughout my career, especially early on, it could have gone a lot differently. But I’m still here now and I’m just thankful for that.”

Laying aside the contradiction between saying he didn’t know what next year holds while insisting that this is his last game in Green Bay, Lazard paints a fairly eloquent picture of his past and future. He made his Packers debut at the low point of the 2018 season, a 31-0 loss to the Lions at Lambeau Field, catching one pass for seven yards as a late-season addition to the 53-man roster. He (very likely) ends his tenure in Green Bay catching four passes for 41 yards and a touchdown in a similarly disappointing season-ending loss to the Lions, wrapping up a year where he led the Packers in receptions and receiving yards while catching the second-most touchdowns on the team. If not for a white-hot run by Christian Watson, Lazard would have led the Packers in every receiving category. Not bad for a guy the Packers once talked about switching to tight end.

But as far as the Packers are concerned, they’re probably all set. It’s been a nice story, but this is the last chapter.

Why? An often-unspoken truth of NFL roster building is that teams are only interested in players’ futures, not their past. It’s not even a “what have you done for me lately” league. It’s “what can you give me that I can’t get from anybody else — or for cheaper?”

That, as a short summary, is why Allen Lazard finds himself offering half-truths in front of his locker. The Packers have made their position on his future abundantly clear without saying a word, content to bring Lazard back on three consecutive low-wage tenders (twice as an exclusive-rights free agent, once as a restricted free agent) rather than pursuing a long-term deal. They let Lazard play out the last year of his contract without an extension, and it doesn’t sound like there were ever any serious conversations about a long-term deal during the season. The Packers had made their evaluation and stood on it.

That’s why he’ll be on the outs in Green Bay more likely than not. It’s not that he hasn’t been good in Green Bay. It’s that what he’s been in Green Bay is as good as the packers think he’ll ever be. 

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