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Jayden Reed with outstanding 33-yard touchdown run for the Packers

  • Rob Demovsky, editor at ESPNSeptember 6, 2024, 9:46 p.m. ET

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      Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter for ESPN covering the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky has twice been named Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.

The Green Bay Packers may not have found their No. 1 receiver yet, but when it comes to the receiver's rusher role, there is little doubt that Jayden Reed is the right man for the job.

In the second quarter against the Eagles, he showed why again when he gave the Packers their first touchdown of the season with a 33-yard end-around run to give them a 12-7 lead. (Josh Jacobs' run for a two-point conversion failed after the Packers decided to go for two on the point-after attempt following a Philadelphia penalty.)

Reed, the Packers' slot receiver, had two rushing touchdowns and averaged 10.8 yards per rush as a rookie last season. Backup running back Emanuel Wilson got the drive going with three carries for 37 yards, setting up Reed's touchdown.

Since 2021, the Packers have scored three rushing touchdowns of at least 30 yards, and Reed has two of them, according to ESPN Stats & Information. All three have actually been scored by receivers, the other by Christian Watson.

Reed tied the Giants' Saquon Barkley with a rushing and receiving touchdown on a 70-yard catch-and-run touchdown from Jordan Love, who stepped into the pocket and hit the completely free Reed just inside the Philadelphia 40-yard line. Eagles safety CJ Gardner-Johnson then slipped on a field where many players had already fallen, and Reed was gone.

It was the longest touchdown pass of Love's career and the second-longest pass of his career (he threw a 77-yard pass against the Raiders last season).

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