Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said this week that the current group of Packers receivers could be the deepest he’s had.
Remember before the 2006 season when Brett Favre said that teat team was the most talented he’s been a part of and we all chuckled? We thought it was just Favre being Favre, talking out of his you know what and maybe even having a little fun with his buddies from the Super Bowl teams of the 1990s.
Well, after a year of seasoning, the Packers went to the NFC championship game. Favre saw something in that group a lot of us overlooked and that talent eventually emerged. We can debate whether Favre’s statement was accurate when it came out of his mouth, but it ended up being a lot more accurate than we thought it would be.
Now Rodgers is heaping praise on a receiving group that features two rookies, a guy coming off a broken leg, no proven tight end and Jarrett Boykin, who appeared dead in the water last season before doing a 180 and coming up big when the Packers needed him.
Is Rodgers going overboard with his proclamation of this group’s depth? Not necessarily.
Favre qualified his praise of the 2006 team by saying it was also the most unproven and inexperienced team he’s been a part of. Most people conveniently overlooked that part of the quote.
The key phrase in Rodgers’ recent praise for his receivers is “could be.”
If Rodgers would have continued talking on the subject, he would have continued by saying his receivers “could be” his deepest if:
- Randall Cobb returns to his old self.
- Jarrett Boykin takes another step.
- Davante Adams is the real deal and fills James Jones’ shoes.
- Jared Abbrederius proves he’s the fifth-round steal a lot of people think he was.
- Jordy is Jordy.
- A tight end emerges as a red-zone threat.
- Someone we’ve never heard of plays well.
Rodgers probably didn’t feel the need to expand on the “could be” portion of his praise because he’s confident that if his collar bone stays in one piece, a lot of those “ifs” will disappear and “could be” will turn into reality.
Packers News, Notes and Links
- Several Packers have taken up yoga this offseason. If it’ll help end the annual plague of injuries, I’m all for it. I did yoga for a while. It’s a good workout. I felt bad for the poor person who got stuck behind me when it was time for the downward dog pose.
- Thanks to Colt Lyerla and Jermichael Finley monopolizing offseason tight end news, third-round pick Richard Rogers has flown under the radar. He’s starting to pick up steam, however, and even got a pat on the back from Aaron Rodgers this week. I have no idea what’s going to happen for the Packers at tight end, but if I had to guess, Rogers might end up contributing as a sure-handed red-zone threat.
- Any time ESPN Wisconsin’s Jason Wilde sits down for a chat with Aaron Rodgers, it’s a must-read. This week’s conversation was no exception. Wilde has a knack for getting Rodgers to talk about non-football topics in an interesting and engaging way.
- Ian Hanley power-ranked the Packers inside linebackers at Packerstalk.com. He’s got A.J. Hawk No. 1, but if someone like Jamari Lattimore wanted to swoop in, it wouldn’t take much to knock Hawk down the list.
- Brett Favre spoke again this week. Honestly, I didn’t even read a transcript of what he said, but if you want to, you can do so here. Talking about retiring Favre’s number as a Packers has gotten annoying. Just do it, already.
- ALLGBP.com’s Jason Perone looks at what the Packers might have up their sleeve for land they’re acquiring around Lambeau Field. Unfortunately, rumors that the land will be used to build ALLGBP.com a new headquarters are untrue. Too bad, Jersey Al is a job creator and could have done great things for the area economy.
Non Packers links and other Nonsense
- My thoughts on Bowe Bergdahl last week got a bunch of you all wound up in the comments section. That’s fine, but stop with the “stick to football” nonsense. I started “Surviving Sunday” on Feb. 26, 2012, so I could kill time during the offseason and try to cram as much Packers info into a single post as I could. I also created it so I could mix in some non-Packers and non-football discussion because there’s only so much you can beat offseason NFL/Packers topics into the ground. Most of us around here understand that sports, culture and current events often intersect. We’re also capable of having discussions that go beyond who is going to be the Packers third safety or sixth offensive lineman. But if all you want to talk is football, that’s fine. The football and non-football parts of “Surviving Sunday” are clearly labeled. Don’t bother interrupting the discussion with annoying “stick to football” comments.
- If I really wanted to aggravate you people further, I’d follow up the above rant with my opinion on the gay marriage issue currently going back and forth in Wisconsin. But maybe I’ll save that for next week 🙂
- This father’s day guide to youth sports from Mike Tanier is essential reading. I pray every day that my eight-month-old son never shows interest in playing hockey, soccer or wrestling.
- If you haven’t seen this throw from Yoenis Cespedes yet, click here and change that.
- I forgot to link to this last week, but the list of demands from the NFL on cities that host the Super Bowl is absurd. Isn’t it enough that taxpayers pay to build stadiums for their hometown team?
Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
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“Someone we’ve never heard of plays well.”
Abbrederis will need to be huge as a returner to keep Janis from the roster spot.
PS…Happy First Fathers Day Adam…yes?
Thanks!
This is based purely on what I’ve seen of Janis on college film, but he’s a huge project and his route running doesn’t look like it’s anywhere near NFL caliber yet.
I don’t think Abbrederis will have much to do with Janis getting a roster spot. Abbrederis looks far more NFL ready than Janis. In my opinion, the burden is on Janis to make himself so valuable to special teams play that the Packers feel he’s worth a roster spot, or that his upside is so great that they can’t risk exposing him teams picking him off of practice squad.
I fully believe the Packers would love to develop Janis, but I’m not sure they can warrant spending a roster spot for him unless he’s a superb ST player.. Again, I don’t think it’s going to have anything to do with Abberderis.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Janis has a surpise “injury” toward the end of camp and ends up on IR.
Dobber, the only reason that would surprise me is that TT seems like he’s almost squeaky clean to a fault, but hey, if they can do it within the rules, I’m sure it’s a tactic that’s on the table!
Hangnails are injuries, right? Once I had a hangnail that stuck around for months. 😉
While it may lack the high-end talent we had in 2010, there are a lot of guys with potential amongst our receivers. Jordy, Cobb, Boykin, Chris Harper, Dorsey, Myles White, Abbredaris, Adams, and Janis (am I missing anyone?). That’s 9 guys who have a chance to make the final 5/6. Obviously Jordy and Cobb are locks, and Adams is all but a lock, it’s pretty wide open. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us lose a guy – or 2 – that we’re trying to get on the practice squad.
I think Adams might end up being a higher-end talent at the WR position than the Packers have had since Jevon Walker.
People’s expectations for this kid seem oddly low- hoping he fills James Jones’ shoes. Normally, I err on the side of caution with my expectations as well.. but I think this kid has the raw talent to be phenomenal. Call it a hunch, let’s hope he develops and can utilize that talent.
I take your meaning, but want to point out that replacing James Jones *while Adams is still a rookie* is a pretty high expectation. Replacing Jones this year does not put a ceiling on even higher expectations next year.
I consider Boykin to be this years replacement for Jones. Very similar players and athletes. Boykin will be just as good as Jones was last year. No reason he can’t put up 50-60 rec, 700 yds and 6+ TD’s.
I don’t see much similarity between Boykin’s and Jones’ game.
Jones had a knack for finding and exploiting seams and getting behind the coverage deep.
Boykin is a guy who creates in traffic.
There’s a lot of people who are gauging Boykin’s value based on his production, but if you watch his receptions over the last two years, he’s frequently a step away from breaking a big RAC. He is very shifty with the ball in his hands, it’s only a matter of time before he starts making big plays after the catch. While not as explosive, the way he plays seems closer to Cobb than Jones, IMO.
I think they’ll miss Jones. Unlike Jennings his last year, he’s been a pretty healthy guy. He also became a quality receiver after he got over his wide open drops. He made several acrobatic end zone catches the last couple of years. Boykin has some of that ability as well.He’s gonna need to really step up this year.
Adams would do very well for himself to even be in the vicinity of Jordy Nelson. He’s got enough potential, but I don’t see the high end being as high as Jordy IMO. Slightly to moderately better than Jones was, but not as good as Jordy seems like his ceiling to me.
Read the NFL’s Super Bowl demands. They remind me of those diva-like backstage requirements from the likes of Brabra Streisand that used to read on the Smoking Gun website. Seems the NFL bigwigs really need their luxurious lifestyles to be maintained at all moments. What a bunch of pansies!
I did get a chuckle out of the requirement for two quality bowling venues. And the removal of non-NFL-preferred ATMs is ridiculous.
We just had the SSM debate like 3 weeks ago. It was mostly a good conversation.. but I’d prefer not to revisit it.
Regarding the “stick to football” comments – I’m fine with them as long as they are as reasonable as the articles appearing on AGBP.com are. It’s the tone with which such comments are spoken that sometimes bother me…
And I completely agree about the super bowl. But it’s not going to change. The owners are going to get whatever they can from whomever is willing to give it up. Just like the IOC and FIFA. Power corrupts. Ultimate power corrupts ultimately. That’s what the genius of the democratic system is (in theory) the checks and balances. No one man (or group of men) will act honorably over an extended period of time without being watched over.
That being said, I’d love to see GB get one – but there’s no way we could ever have the infrastructure to even make a realistic pitch to the NFL.
Finally, regarding Yoga. A few years ago I got over my aversion to the whole “it’s just not manly” thing. I’m not a fan of the OHM stuff (spiritual nastiness IMO) but flexibility and core strength are really helped out by it. It can only help – especially the defensive players, who by nature have more quick twitch reaction called for in their job description.
The Super Bowl demands are ridiculous, but if I were mayor of Green Bay and the NFL came to me with a list of demands to finally bring a Super Bowl to Lambeau, I can’t say I wouldn’t consider it.
Yoga is a helluva workout (minus the meditation end of some practices). A lot of current and former athletes credit yoga for a prolonged career or improved health after their playing days are over.
Happy Father’s Day Packers fans. Special greetings to those whose fathers have passed on and to those fathers who have suffered the loss of a child. May your memories be good ones today.
My number 1 hope this year for the Packers is that injuries are minimal. If that happens, this team has enough talent to challenge for the SB. Maybe yoga will help with preventing muscle injuries. Here’s to a healthy 2014 season
I enjoy the little non-football section on Sundays. Czech is the best writer here (except for maybe Jersey Al).
I shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence as Jersey Al when it comes to quality.
Good for you, Adam!
It’s your column, you write what you want.
FWIW, many players on the the Packers have done yoga for years. I don’t know if the Packers continued to institute it as part of their off-season programs or not, but roughly 5 or 6 years ago I know the Packers had the whole team on a ballet regimen as well.
I know most people want to fault the training staff in GB for the rash of injuries over the last 4-5 years, but I really do think the Packers have simply been the victims of a horrendously bad streak of luck.
Coach Lovat has learned his craft under Rubin (who was around from 95-05), and legendary pioneers in the field Rock Gullickson and Dave “Redman” Redding. I’m pretty sure Mike McCarthy brought in both Rock and Redman for short stints intentionally to further mentor Lovat before either man retired (which Redding has, but Rock is still in the league working.) Redding is in the USA S&C coaches HOF; both Rock and Lovat have been honored with NFL S&C coach of the year awards while in GB.