Ladies and gents, I implore you to head to your local family waiver wire* and pick up Jake Kumerow, WR for the Green Bay Packers.
Kumerow's not a sexy sleeper pick. Last season was is fourth in the NFL, and he hasn't done much as of yet. He's buried on a depth chart behind Davante Adams and three guys the team spent draft capital on last year, and he's a 27-year-old white guy playing wideout. Rookie UDFAs like Karan Higdon, Elijah Holyfield, Bruce Anderson and James Williams are getting all the buzz, and not undeservingly so -- I want the next Phillip Lindsey as much as the next guy. This presents an opportunity to buy Kumerow for essentially nothing.
Kumerow boasts impressive size (6'4, 209 lbs) but his 4.58 40-yard dash time in college left a good bit to be desired. He made up for that a bit with a great dominate rating (40.7%), YPR (17.1) and a 77/1331/19 senior statline, but so far removed from his college days I don't see much use in focusing on these stats. As mentioned, Kumerow's been around awhile.
Entering the league, Kumerow faced struggles that many small school prospects are familiar with. Coming out of Division 3 he spent a few years on the practice squads of the Patriots and Bengals before landing in Wisconsin, again on a practice squad, towards the end of the 2017 season. In 2018 the UW-Whitewater alum finally made some noise by crafting strong chemistry with Aaron Rodgers, to the point of Rodgers mentioning his confidence in Kumerow unprompted in multiple interviews. In GB's first preseason game he hauled in a 52-yard TD pass and Rodgers -- on the sideline of course -- could be seen cheering excitedly with a huge grin on his face. He caught another touchdown that preseason, an 82-yard bomb which he converted due to a spectacular goal-line dive, injuring his shoulder and landing on IR. It was kind of a bummer.
He would play 136 snaps when he was finally activated for the final four games of the season (including 83.9% of offensive snaps Week 17), by which time the Packers were well out of playoff contention and focused on scouting the guys on their roster. Across those snaps he caught 8/11 targets for 103 yards and a touchdown -- which came in the form of a 49-yarder from Rodgers to beat out versus the Jets in overtime, Dec. 23. Rodgers had a 132.0 QB rating targeting Kumerow, but it was a damn small sample size. Too small to extrapolate anything meaningful other than that Kumerow and Rodgers have exceptional chemistry, and that Kumerow is capable of playing at the NFL level (notable because those four games were the first of his career). The Packers didn’t add anything substantial to their wideout corps in the draft or free agency.
Of course, a Thielen-esque breakout season isn't likely to be in the cards. The Packers have a crowded WR depth chart behind Adams (Kumerow will be competing neck-in-neck with ESB, Valdes-Scantling and J'Mon Moore this offseason, and likely well into the season), and are a strong candidate to spread the ball around enough to lack a meaningful WR2 for fantasy purposes. A reasonable ceiling to expect for Kumerow this season is likely as a go-to red zone weapon alongside Adams and Jimmy Graham, which could be quite notable if you're like me and project Rodgers to pass for somewhere in the area of 40 TDs. His chemistry with Rodgers could lend him to more regular use, but there's a fair high chance he doesn't work out as even a bye-week play.
But this is dynasty, and Kumerow is attached to Aaron Rodgers. The chance that his chemistry with Rodgers continues to grow should also be considered, and that the Kumerow’s narrative could continue into a UDFA success story similar to all those guys named in the beginning of the article. And even the No. 3 WR in a Rodgers-led offense will certainly carry fantasy value. If Kumerow can stay healthy – which will be key above all else – I expect him to be a hot commodity this time next year.
Oh, and I dare not forget to mention that he’s spending the offseason working out with his cousins Joey and Nick to physically prepare for the season. They share the last name Bosa.
*If he's rostered, you may have to part with a 2020 4th.
