Green Bay Packers beat writer Paul Imig will be analyzing the 25 most important players to the Packers' success in the 2013 season. Check back each day to see the latest player on the list.
Note: This is not a list of the team's 25 best players or a series about past success, but rather which of them means the most to how Green Bay will fare this year. Criteria such as depth at that player's position, general expectations and overall importance of that player having a good season are all highly considered.
28 / Sixth NFL season
Nelson will be an important part of the Packers' three-man wide receiver group this upcoming season. With Greg Jennings now a member of the Minnesota Vikings, the roles of Nelson, Randall Cobb and James Jones will all become more critical in determining whether Green Bay has a successful year.
If Aaron Rodgers is healthy, the Packers' passing offense will almost certainly be among the league's best. But that doesn't diminish the value of those players catching the passes from Rodgers. Jones was ranked at No. 18 on this list after a breakout 2012 season, but Nelson is higher because he provides more of a diverse threat -- and a bigger target -- for Rodgers.
Green Bay would've been more aggressive in free agency with Jennings had general manager Ted Thompson and his staff not been confident in Nelson. With the Packers losing Jennings, who had been their top receiver for three consecutive seasons before 2011, it puts more pressure on Nelson and the rest of the group to perform at a high level and ensure that Rodgers can execute the offense without missing a step.
In his first three NFL seasons, Nelson looked like a decent, No. 3-type receiver. He never finished with more than 45 receptions, 582 yards or two touchdowns in any of those years (2008-2010) while also fumbling three times in two of those seasons. That didn't seem overly promising from an early second-round pick.
That's when Nelson had his tremendous 2011 season with 68 catches, 1,263 yards, 15 touchdowns and no fumbles. Only a few games into that season, Nelson signed a contract extension that was for far less money than what he would have been worth at the end of the year.
A season-long performance like what Nelson displayed in 2011 was not repeated last year, though. Multiple injuries kept him from staying on the field consistently and it seemed as if Nelson was rarely near full health. However, his numbers (49 receptions, 745 yards, seven touchdowns) were still the second-best of his career.
Expectations for Nelson this upcoming season will begin with him staying healthy. It's unlikely Nelson will ever be quite as dominant as he was in 2011, but it's still very possible that he can put together another 1,000-plus yard season. If Nelson can record the statistics he did in 2012 while battling through an injury-plagued season, a healthy Nelson could again be expected to be one of the league's top-15 receivers.
Looking at just the top three receivers in Green Bay, it's one of the NFL's more impressive groups. Nelson, Cobb and Jones all work well with each other and with Rodgers, and there's never been any selfishness between the three of them when it comes to who gets the ball.
But there is less room for error and injury now. Jennings is gone, as is Donald Driver. Though Driver wasn't productive late in his career, he was a safety net for the Packers in case the roster started getting thin. Behind the top three now are a bunch of young, unproven players.
Green Bay could potentially be better off with players like Jarrett Boykin, Charles Johnson and Kevin Dorsey as the Nos. 4-6 receivers than it was with Driver, but it's more of an unknown. What if Nelson misses four games due to injury like he did last season? Are Cobb and Jones, along with perhaps Boykin and Johnson, good enough to still remain an elite passing offense?
The Packers will likely run the ball more often and more effectively in 2013 than they have in recent years, but the success of that will depend largely on the type of defensive looks Rodgers is seeing. Nelson was a terrific deep-ball receiver in 2011 and a return to that level of play will go a long way for Green Bay's offense this upcoming season.
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