Jordy Nelson Stepping into NFL's Elite with Monster Week 2 Performance

It wasn't until 2011 that Jordy Nelson first took over as a starting receiver for the Green Bay Packers.

The former Kansas State product from the 2008 draft class was behind Greg Jennings and Donald Driver on the depth chart for his first three years in the NFL. The tandem combined for 6,308 yards on 419 receptions, while scoring 40 touchdowns during that span.

In Nelson's first season as a starter, he caught 68 passes for 1,263 yards and 15 touchdowns, landing him ninth in the league in yardage and third—only behind Rob Gronkowski and Calvin Johnson—in receiving scores.

Unlike Gronkowski and Johnson, though, Nelson didn't make the Pro Bowl. At the time, Bleacher Report's Vincent Frank wrote that he was the ninth-biggest Pro Bowl snub from the 2011 season:

"

The fact that Jordy Nelson didn't make the Pro Bowl is a crying shame.

The fact that his teammate, Greg Jennings, made it over him is even worse.

I have no idea what the voters were thinking in regards to this. First, Nelson has been Aaron Rodgers' go-to guy when it has counted the most. Second, Jennings has dealt with injuries this season and hasn't been nearly as effective.

This makes absolutely no sense to me.

"

It's a running joke that Pro Bowlers don't get in until a year after they deserved the recognition, and they stay a year longer than they should. That's part of the influence of fans voting for national slots on a decent-sized roster.

Surely, Nelson made the 2012 Pro Bowl, right?

Unfortunately for the receiver, he missed four games that year. Extrapolating his receiving and touchdown production would have left him 22nd and 11th, respectively, in the league while not playing at 100 percent health. No Pro Bowl for Nelson.

In 2013, he bounced back, netting another top-10 season in receiving yardage during his second healthy season as a starter. Still, he received no Pro Bowl selection.

Is Nelson an anomaly? Are receivers not judged by numbers as heavily as we're led to assume?

From 2011 to 2013, the years when Nelson played a majority of Green Bay's season as a starter, a total of eight players have had two or more top-10 seasons in receiving yardage.

Those players are A.J. Green (Cincinnati), Andre Johnson (Houston), Calvin Johnson (Detroit), Brandon Marshall (Chicago/Miami), Demaryius Thomas (Denver), Wes Welker (New England) and Roddy White (Atlanta). Oh, and Jordy Nelson.

Eric Gay/Associated Press/Associated Press

Besides Nelson, the seven players listed have a combined total of 30 career Pro Bowls. During the 2011-2013 span, they combined for 16. Thomas has the fewest for a career with two, while White had the fewest during the span with one.

White is the only player other than Nelson to have been snubbed from a Pro Bowl while receiving marks in the top 10 during the stated range.

Well, maybe Nelson just isn't an established name? This argument holds some weight, but Nelson was on a Super Bowl squad in 2010. The very next season, he ranked third in the league in receiving touchdowns on a 15-1 team.

Plus, Thomas and Green are from younger draft classes than Nelson. They established themselves pretty quickly.

Point blank, Nelson doesn't get enough respect for what he's done.

For players in the 2008 class or younger, only Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Dez Bryant and Mike Wallace have amassed more touchdown catches. As far as yardage is concerned, Nelson is third behind DeSean Jackson and Wallace.

If you put him neck-to-neck with all of the 34 other receivers drafted in the same year as him, only Jackson could be argued to be a better receiver.

Jackson, who has never reached double digits in receiving touchdowns in a single season, has made three Pro Bowls during his career.

Why isn't Nelson getting the respect he deserves for his production? Sure, he's not as big as Vincent Jackson or Marshall. Sure, he's not as fast as Julio Jones or Antonio Brown. Comparable players based on height and speed are Bryant, Alshon Jeffery and Josh Gordon. They all made the 2013 Pro Bowl.

In Jerry Rice, Willie Totten—Rice's quarterback at Mississippi Valley State—said that Rice "wasn't that fast, but he worked real hard. If you were the fastest guy on the team, he wanted to race you. He lost a lot of races, but he ran the best routes and was the hardest worker on the team."

That's Nelson. He's not flashy, but he's consistently good. That should be respected.

Nelson had a huge game on Sunday, netting 209 receiving yards against the New York Jets. Peter Sowards of Pro Football Rumors indicates that he tied Don Hutson for the fourth-highest single-game yardage in the 95-year-old franchise's history with that effort.

Bleacher Report's Zach Kruse suggested it was the highest tally by a Green Bay player in almost two decades, when Don Beebe managed 220 receiving yards.

No receptions in the game were larger than Nelson's last two on the last two drives. Nelson scored an 80-yard touchdown by burning a Nick Saban-coached former first-round pick in Dee Milliner.

Saban, known as somewhat of a defensive back guru, couldn't help Milliner on Sunday. Nelson's ground damage after the catch gave Green Bay the go-ahead score, putting the Packers up again after being down three scores earlier in the game. The grab put him at 190 yards, already a career high.

On the next drive, he clinched a Green Bay win with a huge reception for a first down.

Of Aaron Rodgers' 42 passes, 16 were targeted at Nelson. That was more than double the total (seven) of the Jets' top target, Eric Decker, the big free-agent pickup for the squad during this past offseason.

The sheer volume of targets that Nelson has had over his career is impressive, considering who he has played with.

Since he's been a starter, he's played with Greg Jennings (a two-time Pro Bowler), Donald Driver (a four-time Pro Bowler), James Jones (led the NFL in receiving touchdowns in 2012), Randall Cobb (led the NFL in all-purpose yardage in 2012), Jermichael Finley and Jarrett Boykin.

In Bleacher Report's BR NFL 1000 series, he was named the 24th-best receiver in the league.

"In 2013, Nelson had his best year and was also able to start all 16 games for the first time since entering the league. He’s quietly emerging as one of the best go-to receivers in the league," wrote Matt Miller.

Beck Diefenbach/Associated Press/Associated Press

Ahead of him? Coming in at Nos. 17 and 23 were teammates Jones and Cobb. At No. 68 was Jarrett Boykin.

No player has done what Nelson has with that much talent around him needing the ball, too. When Julio Jones was added to complement Roddy White, the latter's stats eventually fell off. In Arizona, we're already seeing Larry Fitzgerald's numbers slip with Michael Floyd needing to be fed.

With Cobb, Boykin and Davante Adams, Nelson's numbers have been able to survive.

Adams replaced Boykin mid-game as the Packers' third receiver on Sunday. The second-rounder is getting playing time earlier than expected, with Cobb's potential vacancy in 2015—he's in a contract season—being the previous date that was being eyed.

Whoever is the No. 2 or 3 receiver in 2015 will line up next to or opposite Nelson, though, who signed a four-year extension in July.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Nelson's not "quietly emerging" as anything. He's been scoring all over the NFL for at least three seasons. There's an argument to be made that Green Bay doesn't win Super Bowl XLV if Nelson's not in Dallas. He had nine receptions for 140 yards and a score in that game.

He's Aaron Rodgers' top target for a reason: The signal-caller trusts him to make big plays in big situations. There's only a handful of those players in the league. He's one of them, and it's time to acknowledge it.