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James Jones the offensive focus for Green Bay Packers

By Keegan Matheson

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Wide receiver James Jones flew above and beyond expectations in his return debut with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, catching four passes from Aaron Rodgers for 51 yards and two touchdowns. With the majority of Rodgers’ red zone looks going towards James Jones, he’s evidently become the focal point of the Packers offense in high-leverage scenarios. Well, for now.

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Randall Cobb is clearly not over a shoulder injury that put his week one status at risk leading into Sunday, and second-year man Davante Adams is a strong bet to balance the red zone targets as he builds his on-field relationship with Rodgers. His fantasy football impact may be limited due to his touchdown reliance, though, as I don’t expect many games from Jones with eight receptions for 95 yards.

The hype produced by this performance will set the bar far above what’s achievable for Jones, and turn him into a fantasy football waiver wire darling this Tuesday, but there’s some meat on the bone here. The most encouraging sign of all for his 2015 trajectory may be the usage of Ty Montgomery and Jeff Janis behind him, the latter of whom I profiled earlier in the week as a true dice roll for fantasy purposes. 

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I had suspected that the two may rotate onto the field in certain three receiver sets, which they still may do later in the season, but Jones received a long look ahead of them. The trust between he and Rodgers was clearly at play, too, with Rodgers looking his way on two critical plays outside of his touchdowns.

Before scoring his second touchdown of the game, Jones had another score called back on an offensive holding call. With Rodgers spilling out of the pocket, he was quick to identify Jones and track Jones to the sideline where he made an incredible catch, dragging he knee as he slid out of bounds.

Prior to that, Rodgers forced the Bears to jump the snap and produced one of his trademarked “free plays”. Turning his eyes to a deep throw, Rodgers again found Jones for a gain of 34 yards. Outside of that reception and his two scoring plays, Jones’ fourth reception came on a short third down play which he converted by a half-yard.

This isn’t the James Jones we’ll see every week, but all things considered, this performance should come as a relief to Packers fans and the organization. His history of the success with the team left the door open for his return, but remember, the New York Giants cut Jones for a reason. Now that he’s proven to have something left in the tank, the offense can continue their march forward with certainty.

Next: Analyzing the Packers fullback usage in 2015

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