Dontayvion Wicks erupted for two touchdowns for the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving, providing Jordan Love with a crucial target and potentially filling the offensive void left by Tucker Kraft's injury.
It was expected that there would be a drop off in production from the Green Bay Packers' offense when superstar tight end Tucker Kraft went down with a season-ending knee injury.
At the time of his injury, which occurred in Week 9 against the Carolina Panthers, Kraft was the Packers leading receiver. He had caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns and was on the breakout path towards being recognized as one of the best tight ends in the NFL.
Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised, then, that the Packers finished that game with just 13 points and followed that up with only seven in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The offense was reeling from the loss of its best player, and as we've seen, it's taken Matt LaFleur and his unit a few weeks to figure out how to replace Kraft.
They may never be able to fully do it in 2025, but in a 31-24 Thanksgiving Day win against the Detroit Lions, the Packers may have found an above-average answer.
That answer was third year wideout Dontayvion Wicks, who struggled with drops for much of the 2024 season and then has struggled with injury here in 2025.
Wicks stepped up in a massive way, catching a 6-of-7 targets for a team-leading 94 yards and two touchdowns.
He provided Green Bay the firepower it needed to sweep the Lions, who had previously won the NFC North two seasons in a row, and he very well may be Green Bay's answer to the Kraft problem.
He'll likely never be the superstar that Kraft was becoming, but can Wicks become a reliable target for Jordan Love and a solid alternative option in the "mid-range" game to Christian Watson's deep threat?
The answer to that question is absolutely, and according to Watson, that shouldn't be a surprise despite Wicks' struggles as of late.
"I feel like if you flipped the script and you seen the way that he worked, I don't think that you'd think that he had any drops or any issues with anything," Watson said after the Detroit win, according to Wes Hodkiewicz of the team website. "He's a type of guy that's gonna work for sure. He comes to practice every day, every rep of practice he's trying to win, he's trying to fight every single rep, so I think it's just the culmination of all the work that he's put in."
The Packers drafted Wicks out of Virginia with the 159th pick (fifth round) of the 2023 NFL Draft. He's always flashed potential to be a strong wide receiver in the NFL because of his otherworldly route-running and ability to get open, but he's never quite put it all together.
As a rookie, he caught 39 passes for 581 yards and four touchdowns. Last season, while struggling with drops, he caught just 39-of-76 targets for 415 yards and five touchdowns.
It says something that Love went to Wicks in two huge spots against the Lions, though. The first came on 4th-and-3 when Love found Wicks running near the sideline of the end zone, and the wide receiver made a ridiculous catch.
The second also came on fourth down, and it sealed the deal for the Packers.
Now, Wicks' challenge will be keeping up that level of play for the rest of this season.
Can he be the missing piece for this offense? We'll still have to wait and see.
He's absolutely going to keep getting opportunities, though, because it's clear his teammates trust him.
"We don't win that game without him," Watson said. "Just to have him kind of just stay even through all the ups and downs with the injuries and whatnot, it's exactly the Wicks that I know. Just going out there and balling, so I'm glad he got to do all that today and help us win this football game."