“I can’t believe Green Bay let him go, but I’m glad he’s here.” -- Derek Carr, on Jordy Nelson
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- To hear Davante Adams tell it, the first meeting at a Northern California steakhouse between Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and his new receiver, Jordy Nelson, back in March was a bit, well, awkward.
Until Adams showed up to broker a kinship in the 5½-hour long dinner.
“I was trying to get them acquainted, because I was pushing for it, because if [Jordy is] going to be anywhere, I want you to be with my old quarterback because I trust him. I know how he is,” Adams said of Carr, his college QB at Fresno State.
“They didn't really know each other yet. Then I came in, worked my magic, and -- he signed. It was good. I'm excited for him.”
Nelson will have the chance to thank Adams and a slew of other former Green Bay Packers teammates, including Aaron Rodgers, and coaches, such as Mike McCarthy, on Friday night when the Raiders play host to the Packers in each team’s third exhibition game.
Just don’t expect him to get all misty over the reunion, which comes less than six months after the Packers cut him following a decade-long Titletown tenure that ended with a whimper last season.
“Emotionally, it won’t be a problem,” Nelson said this week. “… It’ll be fun to see them. It’s kind of enjoyable as a preseason game, so we can have some fun and get in and get out.”
The Raiders, midway through the exhibition season, are more than excited Nelson became available -- which made Michael Crabtree expendable -- and Nelson’s leadership in Oakland’s receiver room has been palpable.
“Obviously, he’s a seasoned player,” fellow wideout Amari Cooper said.
“He has such a presence in the receiver room, he’s won a Super Bowl. So, any advice he has to offer, I’m all ears. He’s always speaking up on the small things when it comes to small details and route running and things like that. I’m always listening.”
Tight end Jared Cook, who spent the 2016 season with Nelson in Green Bay, agreed.
“When I was in Green Bay, a lot of the guys looked up to Jordy and he played a huge role in our offense, not only as a player but as a person in our locker room,” Cook said. “The all-around person that he is and his insights to the game that he brings is huge for our team, especially for the young receiving corps that we have. It’s pretty huge.”
In a strange way, it was as if the Raiders made a simple swap with the two wideouts, whose career stats are eerily similar, by cutting Crabtree and then signing Nelson on March 15.
Crabtree, 30, was due $14.5 million in base salary in each of the next two seasons and he has 579 career catches for 6,870 yards (11.9 yards per catch) and 51 TDs in 125 games over nine seasons. He also authored three straight seasons with at least eight touchdowns for Oakland.
Nelson, 33, was signed to a two-year, $15 million deal with $13 million guaranteed by Oakland after accumulating 550 catches for 7,848 yards (14.3 yards per catch) and 69 TDs in 136 games over nine seasons. And he is one of just four receivers in NFL history with three seasons of at least 1,250 receiving yards and at least 13 TD catches. The other three are in Canton: Jerry Rice (6 seasons), Randy Moss (5) and Terrell Owens (4).
Nelson is, however, coming off a down year in which he had 53 catches for 482 yards and six TDs. But that was with Rogers missing significant time due to injuries. As noted by The Associated Press, Nelson had 25 catches for 290 yards and all six scores came in the first five games, or before Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone.
Rodgers’ heart is broken now that his security blanket is gone.
And Nelson has eased his way into the role of Oakland leader, as a new face.
“Absolutely, especially early on when it was hard for me to teach the offense because I didn’t know it,” Nelson said. “I was still learning and still trying to figure out what the coaches wanted as a whole and how they wanted things ran certain ways. Once I started feeling that out, I’ve been able to have more conversations with guys and really get into the fine details of maybe some suggestions or ways to help them create more separation, which is what we’re all trying to get at the end of the day.”
And while Raiders coach Jon Gruden is still searching for a consistent No. 3 receiver behind Cooper and Nelson (paging Martavis Bryant, Seth Roberts, Ryan Switzer and Griff Whalen), Gruden is just fine with Nelson’s contributions thus far.
“He’s been a playmaker on the field,” Gruden said. “He’s been a consistent, reliable target at a couple positions. He’s been a real good influence behind the scenes. We’ve been really, really happy with his addition to this team.”
So what, if anything, has surprised the Raiders about Nelson?
Maybe that his nickname of “White Lightning” still fits, two years after he was the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year with a league-leading 14 TD catches in returning from a right knee injury that cost him all of the 2015 season.
“He’s faster than I thought and I thought he could already run,” Carr said. “Davante said, ‘Oh, he can still go.’ … He’s been able to run since he was little. He won the 100-meter [dash] in the state and all of that kind of stuff.
“I mean, everything that you hear about him is what you get. He helps the receiver room raise their level, whether you’re the second guy, third guy or you’re just trying to make the team, he raises the level for others. It’s not only with the way that he practices and works out and the way he takes care of his body and those things, but the way he goes after it mentally. … Just the way he communicates, it rubs off on those young guys, too.”
ESPN Packers reporter Robert Demovsky contributed to this report.