Why Jeff Janis is the Packers’ breakout player this season

So I noticed on Twitter several times last season that some Packers fans were calling for wide receiver Jeff Janis to get more opportunities in the passing game. I didn’t pay that much attention to it at the time. I wasn’t sure if he was just a fan favorite or if the guy was really a better option than the receivers Green Bay was going with over him most weeks.

Going back and watching his film, I’m kinda on those fans’ side now. I really don’t understand why he didn’t get more opportunities last season.

Janis is a good size at 6’3 and 220 pounds. He looks quick for a man that big. He is primarily a special teams guy, but when given opportunities he tends to show up.

There were a couple of groan-inducing drops, including one against the Colts where he left the defensive back in the dust only to let a perfectly thrown ball slip right through his hands on what probably would’ve been a touchdown. Those drops were exceptions rather than how he normally caught the ball. And he also showed some good run-after-the-catch ability.

It just seemed like even if Janis didn’t set the world on fire, he could have done at least as well, if not better, than some of the guys who were seeing more balls thrown their way than him. The question becomes if he will ever get more of those opportunities no matter how well he plays. Sometimes guys get labeled as backups and have a hard time shaking that. That seems to hold true especially for guys who do really well on special teams. Calling a guy a “special teams ace” is usually synonymous with calling him a “guy who won’t touch the field much for regular plays.”

Hopefully, as the Packers evaluate him this season they will make note that guys his size who can move the way he does do not grow on trees and see what he can do. The guy had only 11 catches all of last year. Surely he can get somewhere north of 20 this year if he stays healthy.

If he gets to at least 20 catches, I’d expect Janis to end up having a lot more than that for the season. The more he develops a rapport with his quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, and the more he can showcase just what he can do at receiver, I think the more the Packers will decide to incorporate him into their offense.

With more opportunities, I would expect Janis to blow away his career total of 15 catches and emerge as a legitimate deep threat for the Packers this season. That is why he is my choice to be Green Bay’s breakout player of 2017.