Jermichael Finley has had an up-and-down career, and he will spend at least 1 more season in Green Bay. There was talk this offseason that he and his $8.25 million 2013 salary would be let go. But the Packers elected to keep Finley around.
Only 2 tight ends will count more against the salary cap this season. The fact that the Packers held on says a lot about how highly they think of him.
And it’s tough to blame them. Finley goes 6’5 and 247 pounds. He plays faster than his 4.82 forty-yard-dash time, and is capable of stretching the field down the seam. He’s averaging 12.6 yards per catch for his career, with 42 of his 198 grabs going for 20+ yards.
Finley has all the tools you look for in a dominant pass-catching TE. And he’s playing on one of the best passing games in the league, catching balls from a future Hall of Famer.
Yet, he’s been mostly disappointing through his first five NFL seasons. After a quiet rookie campaign, Finley pumped out 676 yards and five scores on 55 catches in 2009. He finished that year 13th among TEs in fantasy points.
2010 had all the makings of a true breakout season. Finley racked up 21 catches and 301 yards in his first 4 games but then went down with a season-ending knee injury.
Finley returned in 2011 to set new career highs with 767 yards and 8 TDs. That placed him 5th at the position in fantasy points. Still, Finley had problems with drops (12 of them, according to Pro Football Focus) and seemed to have more to offer.
He took a step back this past year. Finley reeled in a personal-best 61 balls but averaged a career-worst 10.9 yards per catch. His 42 yards per game were his fewest since his rookie year. And he managed just two TDs. Finley plummeted to 17th in fantasy points.
So what went wrong? Drops continued to be an issue. Finley was charged with 9 of them. His 12.9% drop rate was 4th-highest among TEs with at least 45 targets. That followed a 17.9% drop rate in 2011. It’s something Finley needs to clean up. But he seems capable considering he dropped just 7 of 117 balls (6% drop rate) in his first three seasons.
There’s also been ongoing talk of Finley’s chemistry – or lack thereof – with Aaron Rodgers. Most of that has come from Finley, though. Rodgers has consistently said that the pair’s rapport is just fine. Finley caught a rock-solid 71% of his targets this past year.
The duo got it doing during the second half of last season. After averaging just 3.2 catches and 30 yards per game in his first nine games, Finley went for 4.6 and 57 in his final seven.
The Packers coaching staff noted the improvement from Finley after the Week 10 bye. “I really felt Jermichael Finley was a different man, a different player from the bye week on,” head coach Mike McCarthy said back in January. “I had an opportunity to talk to him about that at length in his exit interview, so I feel very good about the way he finished the year… There was a change in that young man.”
TEs coach Jerry Fontenot agreed. “As the season wore on you could see a more confident guy on the field,” he said. “I see him definitely in an ascending mode.”
Chemistry with Rodgers was once again a topic of conversation in this year’s training camp. The Packers QB has stated publicly that he like what he sees from Finley so far.
“He’s been running his routes really well,” Rodgers said, in an interview with Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Something clicked last year midseason … and it’s carried over this spring. He’s got himself in unbelievable shape, and he’s come in and been dominating out there. I’m really proud of him and the steps he’s made.”
Only seven TEs scored more fantasy points than Finley over the final seven games of 2012. He’s certainly capable of that type of production over the course of this season. Finley remains a big-time talent who’s still only 26 years old. Rodgers remains one of the game’s top QBs. The departure of Greg Jennings frees up about 7.7 targets per game.
This story originally appeared on Draft Sharks
