Some will say the Green Bay Packers never knew how to use Jeff Janis as a receiver. Others will say Jeff Janis isn’t smart enough to play receiver. Maybe we’ll finally see which one it was.
Janis will finally be free from Mike McCarthy’s nonsense. He’s signing with the Cleveland Browns.
More Browns transactions. Cleveland is set to agree to terms with former Packers WR Jeff Janis, per source. @nflnetwork @gmfb @NFL
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) March 30, 2018
This is not surprising at all. With former Packers executives John Dorsey, Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith running the show in Cleveland, there’s not only a familiarity, but perhaps also an affinity for former Packers’ draft picks.
It’s also not surprising that the Packers seemingly made no effort to bring Janis back. They viewed him only as a special teams player and they view those guys as easily replaceable.
Other than as a special teams gunner, Janis’ Packers career will be a forgettable one.
He rarely ever got any playing time on offense. His career totals with the Packers will end up being 17 receptions for 200 yards and one touchdown. He also ran twice for 38 yards and touchdown, with both rushes coming in 2016.
And yes, of course there was the playoff game at Arizona in 2016. The Packers’ receiving corps were so depleted by injury that McCarthy had to play Janis. He caught seven passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns, one on a Hail Mary that put the game into overtime.
Naturally, the Packers’ defense blew it and let the Cardinals run right down the field on the first OT possession for the win. So the legend of Jeff Janis never really took off.
Some thought because of that performance Janis would get more opportunities to get on the field during the 2016 season. Nope!
Janis had just 11 receptions for 98 yards in 2016 and somehow that was his most productive year with the Packers.
I’m not on the Janis bandwagon like some people are (Rob). However, I’m interested to see what another team can do with him.
Jeff JANIS!!
1st stop…..Cleveland
2nd stop…Pro Bowl
3rd stop…ALL-PRO
4th stop….Canton
Reports out of Cleveland are that Janis was brought in to help Gordon with his route running.
In turn…Gordon will take Janis under his wing and teach him the fine art of passing a piss test.
Players helping players.
The NFL needs more feel good story’s like this.
“Other than as a special teams gunner, Janis’ Packers career will be a forgettable one.”
I don’t know. Going for 145 yards, two touchdowns, and catching a game tying hailmary in the playoffs during the only game you’re allowed to play in sounds kind of memorable to me.
Not saying Janis would have been a superstar, but when given the opportunity he showed potential. Yeah he had some drops. How many drops did we have put up with Davante? A painful amount. Should be interesting to see what Janis does in Cleveland, if anything.
Janis caught the TD Hail Mary of 41 yards. Janis on 4th down in the same drive also caught a Hail Mary pass for 60 yards. Janis had 101 yards in receiving yards on the final game tying drive. Not many receivers, if any can claim they ever did that. Not only in a playoff game but any NFL game.
Didn’t Larry Fitzgerald basically return the favor in overtime by being the Cardinals offense?? Like 2 of 3 plays and game over? That’s some pretty good company to be included with!
That Fitzgerald play is ingrained in my memory, Julius drops back in coverage then moves up to protect against the run, Fitz wide open in the middle, then it was Fitzgerald against the Special Olympics tackling defense of the Green Bay Packers.
Then TW playing the receiver, and not the ball…TD…Game over.
Good times.
I hope he lights it up and reinforces McCarthy’s buffoonery. Since McCarthy recently had another year added to his contract, through 2019 season, I’m hoping Gute wins the internal struggle and trades him after next season. Maybe I’ll give him a call, and hope that like Bob Harlan, he answers his phone- he needs to be apprised of this option.
they will quietly add another yr or two to mccarthys contract midway through *his season, and let us know they did 18 months from now.
Suppose Janis, now being free from McCarthy, is able to produce with Cleveland this season what Cobb has averaged with the Packers since signing his deal. Which, by all accounts from comments here over the last 2 years or so, are pretty pedestrian numbers not worthy of that contract and unremarkable. IF that happens, and it arguably won’t, the bigger question is will the anti-Janis crowd admit that maybe Janis was a little better than he was given credit for, considering the dysfunctional environment he has been languishing under the past 4 seasons? I’d like to see the man successful without McCarthy “influence”. Or will the narrative be “Janis got lucky, let’s see him sustain that kind of stellar production”?
I know, I know, Janis can’t even touch Bill Schroeder’s jock with Schroeder having that 1 sterling season of 1,000+yards and all. And if Jordy in his first season with the Raiders is able to do what Cobb does as well, that might be quite the indictment on McCarthy and company as “evaluators” of talent. Coulda dumped Cobb, received double his production/contribution with Jordy/Janis for about the same amount of cash they paid to Randy. Wouldn’t that be a kick in the nuts?
I have little doubt that Jordy can outperform Cobb this year. It just depends on the chemistry he can build with Carr and how fast. That would be hilarious if Janis outperformed Cobb as well. It would definitely look bad on McCarthy and the front office if that happened. Keeping a guy around for $10 million for subpar production when you could have paid another guy a fraction of that money for better results. I’m sure the pack of stooges would have a hundred and one excuses as to why they did what they did.
We can only hope Cheese! We can only hope.
Gute is sending the message to the team that he thinks TT’s roster is basically crap. Janis, Jordy, Burnett and others are being shown the door. The turnover isn’t done. If Janis succeeds with Tyrod Taylor then there will be no question the buffoon screwed up. Its been Capers who has done most of the misevaluations since almost all of the players who walked and played well on other teams were on the defense.
I know Thompson gets a lot of flack for the roster, but I don’t completely blame Ted. I’ve said before McCarthy signs off on these players as well. It wasn’t Ted telling McCarthy he needed to keep 2 FBs or 4 TEs or 7 WRs. And yes Capers was responsible for signing off on the defense. Ted is guilty of keeping his shitty draft choices beyond expiration date. Isn’t it strange, older players as a general rule over 30 are let go while they are still performing, yet draft picks that have shown next to nothing are kept in the hope they will eventually pan out.
And don’t forget, when he has a draft pick that has one good season, that player is given a winning lottery ticket.
“Some thought because of that performance Janis would get more opportunities to get on the field during the 2016 season. Nope!”
Actually YES!, as Janis played 233 snaps in 2016.