1) Introduction: Jeff Janis is a 7th round pick from Saginaw Valley State and is arguably the greatest thing that has ever happened to the Green Bay Packers or maybe football in general. Gravity is the only thing that can hold Janis down long enough to keep him from blowing past any of his projected ceilings. (Sarcasm font is on… just having a little fun with this one.)
2) Profile:
Jeff Janis
- Age: 23
- Born: June 24, 1991
- Height: 6’3″
- Weight: 219
- College: Saginaw Valley State
- Rookie Year: 2014
- NFL Experience: Rookie
3) Expectations coming into the season: Expectations were low for Janis entering the season, however as fans started to see what kind of player they had on their hands, it is safe to say those expectations changed. No record will be safe once Janis is on the loose.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Coach McCarthy and Shawn Slocum have kept the reigns on Janis for this season to ensure no other players became deterred and suffered some kind of performance issues due to their jealous limitations. Because of that Janis only was active for a couple of games and saw very limited snaps. The highlight of the season for Janis came on a road trip to Chicago that saw him surpass a score of two hundred in Flappy Bird. The low-light of his season came after the game in Chicago when he was informed that Flappy Bird was no longer considered cool and no one cared about his high score.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Jeff Janis was the motivation behind every single win this year for the Packers. Letting the team know he was finally content with how the team performed with 5 minutes to go in the NFC Championship game is the number one reason for why the team lost. They simply saw no reason to compete, now that they finally achieved their season’s goal.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: At halftime of the Dallas game, Janis placed a hand on Rodgers’ calf, whispered something, and then had Aaron take a swig out of Janis’ Gatorade bottle labeled, “Jeff’s secret stuff.” The rest is history.
7) Intangibles: Have now been renamed to Janises.
Season Report Card (Player Grades):
(JJ) Level of expectations met during the season
(JJ) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(JJ) Contributions to team during the playoffs
(JJ) Ability to be Jeff Janis
Overall Grade: There is a new letter before “A” in the alphabet, that letter is a double jay. JJ
——————Mike Reuter lives in the Twin Cities and is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas. He is a mobile tech enthusiast, a 19 year Gopher Football season ticket holder and a huge Packers fan. Mike is a writer with AllGreenBayPackers.com and you can follow him on twitter at @uofmike.
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This gave me a good laugh that I needed today.
The enigma that is Jeff Janis. This season I heard AJ Hawk say you can’t win starting jobs during the season.
His comment gave me clarity as to why the hell Janis wasn’t given an opportunity all season (besides special teams and that was a disaster).
Can’t wait to hear about Janis in the OTA’s and training camp continuing to make exceptional catches. Janis has the speed this offense desperately needs to get teams out of the press man.
Detroit, Buffalo, Tampa, Patriots, Seattle, & San Fran all caused problems when played press man with help on Nelson. Which is why Aaron normally scrambles to buy receivers time to get open. 2 speed receivers on the outside make man-coverage impossible.
Or we put him on the practice squad and he makes plays for another team like Charles Johnson.
Well if team will not play man coverage, they might play Tampa 2. I think that produced more problem in the past than man coverage for Packers…
I’m glad you brought this up. Yes, the patented Cover 2 used to give Aaron all sorts of problems. Until the perfection of the shot play was designed.
Teams have become much more reluctant to play Cover 2 against Aaron on 1st or 2nd down due to the threat of play action. The run game now places too much stress on the safeties in Tampa 2. Which is why we see Jordy running by so many defenses. During the 2011 season, defenses played Cover 2 because the scouting report was Aaron struggles to throw underneath for long drives.
Teams immediately adjusted in 2012 and began playing a combination of Cover 3 and press man more. Cover 3 allowed the both corners to have some deep field responsibility while still playing a safety shaded on Jordy Nelson. And press man only works if you DB’s can keep up with everyone. The shallow cross Janis ran against the Rams in the preseason for a TD is a perfect example.
Janis has the speed to make it impossible to shade Nelson with a safety. 4.30 (unofficial) speed that translates to the field. Imagine this; Nelson out wide, Cobb motions out the backfield, Davante in the slot, Janis is outside to the left, R. Rodgers on the line. Then 3 plays later they line up with Lacy.
The preferred scenario would be to have a real deep threat at TE position. That alone would open things up for Jordy and/or Cobb, Adams and Janis if he’s playing. Thanks, Since ’61
Jeff, here’s your offseason program: learn the slant and jet sweep. And catching the ball. That’s important too.
And play better ST, besides kick returns.
Well, your sarcasm is aimed at me. I think he could be special. I think he might flop as well and be out of the league in a year or two. I love his measurables, particularly the 6.64 3-cone drill and benching 20 reps (both led all WRs at the combine). Most of all, I like the comments in his draft profile that he is an exceptionally hard worker, is passionate about the game and has outstanding football character. But he needs to put it together.
I agree ,don’t forget his excellent size. The learning curve is large coming from such a small college, but it will be something to monitor this up coming preseason.
Mike, that was well earned grade. Congratulation…
I hope my teenager doesn’t find out about this grading system. Let’s see, you show up but there are no tests (don’t have to produce on the field). JJs indeed.
Not sure why we didn’t see anything of Janis at any point throughout the season. Maybe he is be dumb. Perhaps he is our Forrest Gump.
Razer – our WRs remained healthy all season and Janis probably didn’t impress the coaches in practice to warrant putting him on the field. With a year to learn the offense he should be ready to go this preseason and he will either earn a spot on the roster or be gone, especially if TT picks up another receiver in the draft. Thanks, Since ’61
I hear you, I just find it strange that the guy is kept on the 53 man roster and yet fails to run a route. When Boykin was falling out of favor, you would think that Janis would have been given the chance to get some experience. Davante Adams got a ton of reps as a rookie. There must be some significant reasons for the guy not seeing the field.
He was kept on the 53 because TT and MM felt that putting him on the Practice squad instead would allow a different team to immediately offer him a regular contract and take him away from GB.
We’ve had deep talent taken away a couple of times recently (WR Johnson a year ago, CB Rolle this season.)
Strange too that GB activated Dorsey over Janis during the season and now has released Dorsey, unless it is due to injury.
Mike – good to see that some levity has been brought into the process. As for Janis, if the Packers pick up another WR in the draft like either D. Adams or Abbrederis, Janis’ days may be numbered. Of course Janis is so fast that he may be gone before he leaves. We’ll have to wait until training camp to see if he survives. Thanks, Since ’61
You might be laughing now but what happens if JJ comes out this year and breaks records? who will be the brunt of the joke then? 🙂
This group is smart. All year long we heard from folks here:
1) Slocum is terrible and ST’s suck – Slocum fired
2) MM play calling sucks – MM gives up on that
3) Move CMIII around – a few games into the season CMIII moved around
4) and many more
I said all year Janis should line up opposite J Nelson. In 2015 he will be and he will succeed. Janis is special and may have taken a year to learn our system as many here have said and they are probably right. I predict he will have 40 to 50 catches and 600 – 800 yards plus yards and the announcers will be saying, “Where did they find this guy?”