Green Bay Packers WR depth present in Janis, Abbrederis

The Green Bay Packers are about to point their ship forward into the 2015 offseason and for the first time in several years the wide receiver position could be a prominent area of need.

The fourth wide receiver spot on the roster is now wide open, perhaps even the third, and the Green Bay Packers could open up a competition between 2014 draft picks Jared Abbrederis and Jeff Janis.

Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams are currently the only certainties on the Packers wide receiving corps. Randall Cobb is entering free agency this offseason, which should quickly become the lead storyline for Green Bay. Cobb caught 91 balls for 1,297 yards and 12 toucheowns in 2014, so at 25 years of age he will be one of the open market’s most sought-after commodities. Ted Thompson is known for drafting, developing and re-signing his own players, but Cobb’s price tag could prove difficult to manage.

Past Cobb, the Packers have another impending free agent in Jarrett Boykin. After a tremendous 2013 campaign, he was non-existent last season, recording just three catches for 23 yards despite every opportunity to be the third option in an Aaron Rodgers offense. If Cobb and/or Boykin leave town, Abbrederis and Janis represent two very different, very intriguing options to slide in behind Davante Adams.

The Green Bay Packers were clearly preparing for this situation by adding three receivers in the 2014 draft. After grabbing Adams in the second round, Thompson made Abbrederis the second of two fifth-round pick – the first University of Wisconsin player selected in his nine years as Green Bay’s general manager. Abbrederis was born in Wisconsin, won a high school state championship there, was a walk-on with the Badgers as a spread-option quarterback and developed into an intelligent and productive wide receiver.

You likely wouldn’t be able to pick Abbrederis out of a crowd on the street. Standing 6’1″, 195 pounds, he is fairly weak, even by wide receiver standards. His 40-time screams pedestrian, which means he won’t be outrunning any NFL defenders, and his vertical jump was among the worst at the combine for his position. Still, Abbrederis was one of my favorite players in the entire draft class. He has reliable hands and a scrappy playing style that will immediately appeal to his hometown crowd, not to mention an elite football I.Q.

Abbrederis missed the entirety of his rookie season in 2014 after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee. Given the nature of his playing style, I expect that he’ll be able to return to normal. Packers fans know how greatly Rodgers values the element of trust in his receivers and Abbrederis embodies that. He will rarely be spectacular, but could offer great stability at the bottom of a depth chart and contribute on the return teams as need arises.

Two rounds after selecting Abbrederis, Green Bay went in a totally different direction and drafted the athletically-gifted Janis out of Saginaw Valley State. Standing at 6’3″, 220 pounds, with a 40-yard dash that flirts with sub-4.4, Janis was immediately tabbed as a “Jordy Nelson type.” Janis has great leaping ability on deeper throws, and possesses excellent small-area burst for his size, shown by his 3.98s time in the 20-yard shuttle drill which ranked him fourth in the draft class.