The Oakland Raiders brought in Jordy Nelson to be a positive veteran for the team and thought he was that off the field, on-field production was inconsistent.
After nine successful seasons in Green Bay, the Packers surprisingly released veteran wide receiver Jordy Nelson in March of 2018 much to the dismay of fans and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He had over 500 receptions, 7800 receiving yards and 69 touchdowns in Green Bay but at age 33 there was no denying Nelson was not the same player.
This lead to Packers GM Brian Gutekunst asking Nelson to not only take a pay cut but accept a lesser role in the Packers offense too.
"“I think the hurt part was, to be honest, was the unwillingness to try to make it work,” Nelson said in a radio interview with the Wilde & Tausch show. “But then again, it’s a business, and they have to do what they think is best. What they need to do is to be able to move forward and prepare for the future of the Packers.”"
However, in the midst of Packer sorrow, Jon Gruden jumped at the opportunity to sign the wideout just two days after he was released. Setting him up to be the replacement for Michael Crabtree who the Raiders had released the same day. While that may not have been an equal trade-off, Nelson had some solid moments in 2018.
Expectation
I talked about it earlier, but the expectation was that Nelson would take the place of Crabtree as a possession receiver and red zone target. After coming back from his knee injury in 2016, Nelson had adjusted his game a bit from a guy who was a big-time deep threat to someone who had to rely on his veteran savvy, route running and hands.
He had also proven to be one of the best red zone targets in the entire league, so his skill set indeed complemented Amari Cooper just like Crabtree. And there was no doubt Nelson would not be as talkative as Crabtree had been in 2017.
Reality
Nelson’s season ended up being a tale of two halves because from weeks 1-10 Nelson seemed to be a complete shell of his former self. Which was weird considering Nelson caught all three of his touchdowns for the season during this span. He had a great game week 3 but other than that he proved unable to separate on routes and found himself as a complete non-factor. Even after the Cooper trade he had no impact the following five weeks only recording 3 catches for 30 yards total. There was a knee injury in week 10 against the Chargers that hampered him a bit, but the reality was that Nelson was proving to be a wasteful move.
Then in week 13 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Nelson and the Raiders offense found life as he caught 10 passes for 97 yards. This sparked a five-week snap where Nelson totaled 38 receptions for 386 yards. And even though he had zero touchdowns, it was clear that Nelson was playing his best ball and being the possession receiver the Raiders had hoped. Nothing spectacular occurred, but he was reliable catching 79.2%. Check out the Steelers game and watch the catch Nelson makes on Joe Haden late 4th quarter in the red zone for example. I am still not exactly sure how he caught the pass.
In the end, Nelson proved to have a much better finish than start to 2018, but he was nowhere he the player he once was
Looking Ahead
As much as it was nice to see Nelson finish the season off on a nice note personally, the Raiders should certainly look to improve the weapons at wide receiver whether it be free agency or the draft. There is no way Oakland can go into 2019 expecting him to be one of their primary weapons.
Nelson will be 34 years old, and with the Raiders in rebuild mode, it just doesn’t make sense to rely on him. He could, however, be a veteran presence among young players and show them how to work and what it takes to be a top-level pass catcher.
Sadly, there is also a scenario where Nelson could be cut considering it would only cost Oakland $1.8 million in dead cap, We will find out what the Raiders think of Nelson soon because this decision needs to be made by March 15th or his contract becomes fully guaranteed.