Much to the delight of Green Bay Packers fans, Aaron Rodgers and fantasy owners, the Packers activated wide receiver Jordy Nelson off the physically unable to perform list on Wednesday. Nelson entered training camp on the PUP list as he returned from surgery for a torn ACL last season, in addition to some tendinitis in his other knee. The news was first reported by ESPN's Field Yates.
Nelson's draft stock wasn't slipping much, even as he sat on the PUP listed headed into the second week of the preseason. He was still a top-25 pick amongst consensus average draft position and the eighth wide receiver going off the board.
But there is still fantasy news here and it's most certainly positive. There was growing doubt that Nelson would make an appearance in the preseason, which meant two things.
First, that injury experts, fantasy players and analysts would be unable to see him run, cut and move around on the field, which would just increase lingering questions about just how well the knee was and if Nelson would look anything close to the receiver he was before he tore his ACL.
It also would mean the first competitive reps Rodgers and Nelson got together, which would be important for getting their timing back and make sure the offense ran smoothly, would not come until the regular season. While Rodgers and Nelson do have great chemistry from previous seasons, there would still have been some corrections that needed to be made and Nelson would have had to work his way up to the normal snap count, which would take time.
Now, we might see Nelson on the field for the third week of the preseason. He should certainly be ready to practice next week to get in reps, then potentially see the field next week for live-game action for 10-20 snaps. Nelson's fantasy and real life outlook is now on the rise once again and Green Bay's offense is poised to be in a much better situation for a bounce back season.