Green Bay Packers TE Josiah Deguara Making a Good Impression

During the NFL draft this offseason, the Green Bay Packers sent a clear message about their tight end room.  Early-round additions in Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft show a massive investment from the team, which points to a desire for high-end production and more involvement in the offense.

With this much top capital invested in these two players, playing time early in their careers can also be expected.  Leaving only scraps for the remaining tight ends on the roster. This includes the 2020 third-round pick, Josiah Deguara.

Deguara, a former Cincinnati Bearcat, was the 94th pick off the board in that draft.  He totaled 92 catches for 1117 yards and seven touchdowns over his four years of playing time in college.  And although third-round draft capital isn’t quite the same as second-round capital, it’s still a heavy investment.

So why aren’t more people talking about how the Packers improved their tight-end room this offseason rather than supporting the narrative that it’s been rebuilt from the ground up?

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Josiah Deguara is the Forgotten Member in the Green Bay Packers Tight End Room

Kraft and Musgrave have all the attention at this time, and rightfully so.  I don’t see anything showing me they haven’t lived up to the hype during the offseason either. Although a very small sample size, and their first offseason, the highlight clips flood twitter and the hype train has officially left the station.

Deguara also has an ACL injury under his belt. Early on during his rookie season, he tore his ACL and missed the rest of the year.  As far as playing time goes, that only gives him two seasons at a position that is notorious for taking around four years to begin to breakout.  This will make year three, with a mountain to climb to see the field.

Additionally, the 6-foot-2, 238-pound tight end regressed from 2021 to 2022 in all the popular statistics.  Catches fell from 25 to 13, yards fell from 245 to 114, and touchdowns fell from two to zero.

These all seem like great reasons to write him off, but trust me, not all hope is lost.

Josiah Deguara is Showcasing Why He Deserves a Shot

The stats mentioned above are definitely a cause for concern.  There’s no denying that. But as most internet users know nowadays, there are more advanced stats that tell a different story. Deguara falls into this category.

The Green Bay Packers tight end showed improvements in both catch percentage, and yards per target.  The catching percentage increased from 75.8% to 86.7%.  The yards per target went up to 7.6 from 7.4.  All great signs for his development.

He also produced one of the best highlight clips of the offseason workouts.

Jordan Love to Josiah Deguara. #81 with a one-handed catch. 👀 #Packers pic.twitter.com/PewEjpteyb

— Kyle Malzhan (@KyleMalzhan) June 13, 2023

That catch has shined, even amongst all the Kraft and Musgrave clips.  That says something.

And finally, he has shown the willingness to play in other spots on the field, shown in the picture below where he is working on fullback drills.

Deguara working separate from the tight ends, working with Pearson in a smaller fullback drill. pic.twitter.com/prQIQt9mQk

— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) June 6, 2023

If he can put the first clip together while coming out of the backfield, watch out.  Someone that big back there, combined with our other backs, and allowing the rookie tight ends the opportunity to play, sounds like a dream scenario.  And I don’t think I’m the only one thinking the same thing about that possible lineup.

Deguara as the H. Kraft as the Y. Musgrave as the F. Get weird AF with personnel. I’ll try to keep my pants on but no promises.

— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) June 13, 2023

As a Green Bay Packers fan, this type of creativity is super exciting.  The positives vastly outweigh the negatives.  If it doesn’t work, so what? Deguara turns back into a fantastic depth piece and someone with a few years of experience in that room.

And if it works?  We have a massive human lining up in the backfield that can catch, and further help fix our problem with throwing over the middle of the field.

So keep it up Josiah, the fans have your back.

An Ode to Former Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, Madden Style

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