Packers by position: Wide receivers

Day 3: Receivers.

On the roster: Patrick Williams, JaRon Harris, Jake Allen, Donald Driver, Kole Heckendorf, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, Lorne Sam, Ruvell Martin, Brett Swain, Jamarko Simmons, Greg Jennings.

How many theyll keep: 5, probably.

Best guess (*=starter): Jennings*, Driver*, Nelson, Jones, Martin.

Breakdown: Barring an injury or a setback in Jones comeback from the knee problems that plagued him last year, four of five likely roster spots for receivers seem secure. Jennings emerged as the No. 1 receiver last year (80 catches, 1,292 yards, nine touchdowns) and is in line for a lucrative contract extension. At age 34, Driver (74 catches, 1,012 yards, five TDs) is on the backside of his career, but he keeps himself in great shape, has 1,000 receiving yards in five straight seasons and figures to stick for at least one more year despite his price tag ($3.9 million base salary, plus a $2 million roster bonus). Jones second season was a disaster (20 catches, 274 yards, one TD in 10 games), but he was a third-round pick in 2007 and showed what he can do as a rookie. Nelson was a second-round pick in 2008 and is a lock to make the team. So, as I wrote last week, the primary job defense falls on Martin, who is coming off the least productive of his three NFL seasons (15 catches, 149 yards, one TD). Martins size (6-4, 220) makes him a intriguing weapon, particularly in the red zone, but the former second-round pick Nelson (6-3, 217) is another big target and stands to get more opportunities than he did as a rookie (33 catches, 366 yards, two TDs). Martin received the $1.01 million restricted free-agent tender, and thats a lot to pay a No. 5 receiver. The obvious option to replace him is Swain, a seventh-round pick out of San Diego State in 2008 who didnt make the team. Swain (6-0, 203) admittedly was overwhelmed in his first training camp; a year on the practice squad let him work on his footwork and press releases every day against the likes of Charles Woodson and Al Harris, but it remains to be seen whether thatll pay off in August. Allen (6-4, 196) has intriguing size and, like Swain, a year of practice-squad seasoning. Sam (6-3, 220) remains somewhat raw. Simmons (6-2, 231), who broke three of Jennings records at Western Michigan, probably is the top candidate among the four undrafted rookies on the roster. The slender Mosinee native Heckendorf (6-2, 191) received a $4,000 signing bonus believed to be the most among the undrafted receivers but he has a big adjustment from Division I Championship Subdivision football to the NFL. Harris (6-0, 193) and Williams (6-1, 204) are long shots.

"Packers Gazzette" wrote:

This article supports my thought of why the heck did we bring in all these free agents at wide reciever when none of them are going to make the team.

We have Driver, Jennings, and Nelson for sure and 2/3 of those are already top named receivers in the NFC North if not the NFL, despite the lack of publicity they get. If Jones comes back healthy(I hope he does) then we have another WR that is going to come on this year. He made a few mistakes that I wasn't happy with in 07 but being his Rookie year, its understandable and he did flash great talent at times. The only Packer I am afraid of loosing is Martain and it would be a shame if we let him go. I don't know why but I've always liked him.

Really Jones and Martain are the only 2 "wild cards" that could get replaced but again I think its a long shot, which wastes all the free agents time. Yeah it gets them some good tape to use when they look for a job but I would be rather peved if I were any of those men because i would know going into it that getting a job here would be VERY unlikely.

"PackerFan" wrote:

packerfan, the reason they were brought in as tryouts was to give QB's more recievers to throw to than just 1 or 2, i mean for the rookie orientation you need to have at least 22 guys, and not all of them come through the draft, doesn't mean we are going to keep them, we just signed them for OTA's so QB's have bodies to throw too.

"croxeye" wrote:

packerfan, the reason they were brought in as tryouts was to give QB's more recievers to throw to than just 1 or 2, i mean for the rookie orientation you need to have at least 22 guys, and not all of them come through the draft, doesn't mean we are going to keep them, we just signed them for OTA's so QB's have bodies to throw too.

"croxeye" wrote: