I know that many Packers fans are hurting today. You are likely wearing your Jordy Nelson jersey to work one final time as a tribute to one of your “all-time favorites”. There was something about Jordy that just appealed to you from the day he joined the team. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but it’s the same reason you love Clay Matthews and why you always chanted “KOOOOOOON!” when John Kuhn carried the ball.
You would always smile proudly when one of the TV color guys would say Jordy was “surprisingly fast” or that he was “more athletic than he looks”. You would nod your head in agreement when Coach McCarthy would say that Nelson is “one of the hardest workers on the team”. He’s a Kansas farm boy–he “knows the meaning of hard work” you would tell your friends.
Deep down in your heart, you know that if Aaron Rodgers didn’t get hurt last year, he would have been looking for “his favorite target” more often–and Jordy’s numbers would have been better. There would have been the long pass interference penalties on sideline fly patterns. There would have passes over the heads of defenders looking into the backfield at Aaron rolled out right and Jordy ran the deep crossing route left that for some reason DB’s could not recognize–even thought the Packers ran it every game. It’s really Brett Hundley’s fault that Jordy never got the ball despite a total lack of separation from coverage.
Now you hope that Jeff Janis might get his chance to fill that role as the Packers “star receiver”. Sure, they are using the money saved from cutting Nelson to resign Randall Cobb and Davante Adams–but there’s just “something” about those guys that doesn’t make them seem that special to you.
I thought it was a nice touch that in his initial statement Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst wrote that he “looks forward to Jordy’s certain induction into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame”. There Nelson will join a plethora of other players whose popularity far exceeded their production on the field like Mark Tauscher, Mark Chmura, Brian Noble and Chuck Cecil.
So proudly wear that Jordy Nelson jersey one final time Packers fans. Then get it framed and hang it on the wall next to the Bill Schroeder and Don Beebe jerseys that were worn by your “favorites” before him.
