Jordy Nelson’s return to the Green Bay Packers’ offense took a turn for the worse Tuesday. Nelson was placed on the team’s Physically Unable to Perform list after recently having what Nelson calls a “hiccup” with his knee.
Nelson told reporters it’s just a minor issue with his left knee, not the surgically repaired ACL in his right knee. The “hiccup” could cost Nelson the entire preseason, but after last year I can’t believe the Packers would have let him on the field anyway for the regular season.
“Our end goal is still the same,” Nelson told reporters. “We’ll be ready for the regular season. Like I said, there’s just a little hiccup with the other leg. We’re not worried about it. We’re going to work through it inside and continue to progress, and we’ll be ready to go at some point during camp and definitely for the season.”
#Packers believe @JordyRNelson knee problem is tendinitis the result of overcompensating during rehab. Not viewed as serious currently
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) July 26, 2016
Nelson tore his right ACL during a preseason game last year. He was coming off his best season as a pro. In 2014 Nelson caught 98 passes for 1,519 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 15.5 yards per catch and 94.9 yards per game.
“The only timetable is Week 1,” Nelson said. “That’s the only thing we’re worried about. We’re just going to progress as it goes. Not different from what I said with the ACL — as things work forward, you continue to work forward with it and go from there.”
The Packers invested nothing in wide receiver in the draft, though they did sign one of my favorite players, Illinois’ wide receiver Geronimo Allison, as an undrafted free agent. Randall Cobb should be back from injury, but unless Devante Adams finally lives up to his potential or Jeff Janis picks up where he left off in last year’s playoffs, the Packers will be hurting at wideout again.
Gregory could get even longer suspension
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory was already facing a four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. According to Ed Werder, Gregory has either failed or missed another drug test and could be facing a 10-game ban.
Randy Gregory had another violation of NFL’s substance abuse policy and is now facing a longer suspension, sources tell @toddarcher and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 26, 2016
Gregory is trying to appeal the 10-game ban and is currently in a drug treatment facility. With Cowboys training camp starting, Gregory might not even participate for a while. If Gregory is suspended 10 games, he’ll be the second Cowboy to be on the couch for the first two and a half months of the season. Inside linebacker Rolando McClain has been suspended for violating the same drug policy.
Gregory played in 12 games last season after being taken in the second round of the 2015 draft. He recorded just 12 tackles and no sacks. Gregory fell to the second round of last year’s draft because of a positive marijuana test at the 2015 NFL Combine. The Cowboys need to hire somebody to follow him around and smack the bong out of his hand full time.
Peyton Manning cleared in PED probe
It took the NFL seven months to figure out something the rest of us knew immediately. The increasingly injured and weak-armed Peyton Manning did not, in fact, roid up or use human growth hormone as part of his treatment as alleged by a report from the Al Jazeera network, ISIS and Al Qaeda’s favorite news source.
Peyton Manning went to NYC within past week for final meeting with #NFL investigators. @nflcommish signed off on statement exonerating today
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) July 25, 2016
For some reason Manning, in the worst season of his career, became the focus of this report that also accused Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison and Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers, of using PEDs. Manning played in just 10 regular season games, putting up such lofty roid-assisted totals as 2,249 passing yards, a 59.7 completion percentage (the second worst of his career… only behind his rookie year in 1998), nine whole touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
In the playoffs Manning’s HGH was especially effective as he was even worse in accuracy, with a 55.4 completion percentage, a total of 539 yards in three games, two touchdowns and one interception. If Manning was juicing, he probably had a pretty good case against his steroid and human growth hormone manufacturer for delivering him faulty product.
