TE Jermichael Finley, Green Bay Packers

HT: 6-4, WT: 243, Born: 3-26-1987, College: Texas, Drafted: Round 3

2013 Projections

Average draft position

Current as of June 11th. [Full ADP list]

Overall: M Vick (111), G Olsen (112), Jermichael Finley (113), J Rodgers (114), J Cook (115)
Position: A Gates (106-TE10), G Olsen (112-TE11), Jermichael Finley (113 - TE12), J Cook (115-TE13), M Bennett (131-TE14)
Click here for a comparison of these players.

PPR Average draft position

Current as of June 11th. [Full PPR ADP list]

Overall: A Gates (106), O Daniels (107), Jermichael Finley (108), J Rodgers (109), D Moore (110)
Position: A Gates (106-TE11), O Daniels (107-TE12), Jermichael Finley (108 - TE13), M Bennett (123-TE14), B Myers (128-TE15)
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Outlook

Finley came off a great season in 2011 with high expectations last year. But a few poorly timed drops and a huge lack of end zone appearances made Finely a huge disappointment last year. This season, with Greg Jennings moving on, the Packers are going to need Finley to return to his 2011 form. An improved running game should help with that because the linebackers that Finley exploited back then will be focused on stopping the run this year. Facing single coverage down the field, Finley should be able to get back to the elite fantasy tight end status again. However, Aaron Rodgers doesn't have to throw on the goal line anymore. If he hands the ball off to Eddie Lacy or DuJuan Harris and the Packers pound it in for the score, Finley's scoring targets could diminish. With limited red zone looks, Finley becomes just another receiver on a team with a lot of pass catchers.

Latest News

Packers | Jermichael Finley building muscle (Wed Jun 5, 12:51 PM) - Green Bay Packers TE Jermichael Finley is estimated to be much closer to his listed weight of 247 pounds after regaining some bulk this offseason. Finley had dropped to around 235 pounds sometime during or after 2010, when he was aiming to play lighter to be used more as a wide recivier. But Finley's assessment of his earlier seasons saw that he was playing well while also retaining strength in mass, so he decided to go back to that physique. 'He's back to where I like to see him, the playing weight that he's playing with,' head coach Mike McCarthy said. 'He's stronger. He's playing with more confidence. ... I really like the offseason that Jermichael has put together so far.'

Our View: The added bulk should help Finley take hits in 2013. With the loss of Greg Jennings (Vikings) we should see more targets for guys like Finley and WR James Jones in 2013.
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2013 Schedule

2012 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Those who have been calling for Finley to finally become one of the top targets in the Packer passing offense had their moment on Sunday. Finley lead the team in targets with 11, including picking up four targets on Green Bay’s 1st TD drive and drawing the defensive pass interference on Donte Whitner in the end zone to set up his own one yard TD catch. However, after accumulating some good will in the first half, Finley promptly had two consecutive drops, the first of which was on 3rd down and killed a drive early in the 2nd half. Finley would only get two more targets after the drops as Rodgers looked elsewhere. There is no doubting Finley’s talent and even the 49er defense struggled at times with the TE, but there has to be more consistency from Finley’s hands if he is ever to truly reach his potential.

Week 2 - 
Finely had an uneventful game for the Packers this week, compared to some of the games against the Bears over the last few seasons. Finley got involved early on a nice play action pass to start the second drive of the game. Finely turned up field and kick-started the drive with a 16 yard gain. Early in the second, Rodgers hit him on a nice play down the middle of the field, but Finely dropped the pass and it fell incomplete. Finley’s next catch was a nice pivot route, where he made a break for the sidelines after an eight yard gain. However, Charles Tillman made a text-book play; punching the ball out as he was tackling Finley and the Bears recovered the ball. Finley had one final five-yard catch in the 4th quarter on the right sideline to finish the day with four catches for just 26 yards.

Week 3 - Jermichael Finley and the packer’s offensive unit struggled to make any plays downfield against the Seahawks. Finley was the packers leading receiver in terms of yards and made some impressive catches for his team. On a rollout play by the QB, Rodgers bought down for Finley down the field and Finley jumped to haul in a nice gain over the middle of the field. Finley used his size advantage and out muscle defenders over the middle of the field at times for big first downs. Finley did have one drop on a slightly off target throw from Rodgers however. Rodgers failed to connect with any one receiver consistently on Monday night and took a lot of sack/checkdown passes which further limited the production of guys like Finley

Week 4 - Jermichael Finley registered a so-so day with 4 receptions and 54 yards. He could have had a touchdown, but I'll give due credit to Scott Shanle for a nice breakup once the ball was in Finley's hands. He did have a nice catch for 20 yards that should have been about a 7 yard gain; he broke a tackle as he caught the ball, and another one about 5 yards further down the field, displaying the talent he has. It's a matter of getting it right on a consistent basis. Finley had about 5 or 6 targets, but seeing that he had linebackers and/or safeties covering him almost all day, he should have probably been open on a few more occasions than he was today. All in all, not much to dispel the notion that he's a mid to low level TE1 in fantasy circles.

Week 5 - Finley was not terribly busy for much of the day, and was forced out in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. His status is questionable for this coming week. Finley was targeted in the end zone, but there were three defenders in the end zone and Rodgers was lucky it wasn’t picked off. On another pass, he got his hands on the ball, but the defender got a hand on the ball and Finley dropped it. When Finley got hurt, it was on a play where Rodgers was desperately running around trying to find someone open. Finley broke for the sideline with a step on the coverage. He dove for the pass but couldn’t come up with it. It looked like the defender fell on him and definitely Finley looked hurt. Worse than all the rest, it was on a wasted play because Rodgers was over the line of scrimmage when he threw the ball. The injury looked worse than it turned out to be, but might knock him out of the next game.

Week 6 - Finley continued to seem lost in this Packers offense and was held without a catch through the first half. Finley did catch 2 passes for 12 yards, but dropped a potential touchdown in the 3rd quarter. The pass hit Finley right between the hands and bounced off his shoulder pads. The story here is the lack of production from such a talented TE. Finley owners had much higher aspirations when drafting him.

Week 7 - Consistently hyped (or overhyped) year-after-year, the fifth-year tight end from Texas posted yet another clunker of a game. Finley snagged both of his targets for thirty-one receiving yards. Finley remains a physical specimen capable of shredding secondaries, but after several games of dropped passes, it appears he is an afterthought in the Green Bay air attack. As the 2012 season comes to its halfway mark, it appears Finley’s is a lost one. 


Week 8 - Finley was inconsistent this week, failing to make plays on more occasions than flashing his athletic ability. His lone highlight was a crossing route reception down the 5-yard line with room to maneuver after the catch. Outside of that play, it was a day of disappoint for Finley. He was outplayed by a defensive back on one target in tight coverage and slipped at the top of his route on a crucial third down late in the fourth down. That final play gave the Jaguars the ball back, down by six points, with six minutes to play. Finley seems to celebrate on his rare plays of significance far too much considering his declining role on this offense.

Week 9 - Finley was a no-show again on Sunday, as he continues to disappoint and looks closer and closer to his way out of Green Bay following the season. Supposedly over his shoulder injury and ready to “break out,” Finley hasn’t been on the same page with his quarterback for last season. Although he didn’t drop a pass in this one, he was only targeted twice, and played just 38 out of 74 snaps, as blocking tight ends Ryan Taylor and D.J. Williams were used heavily in the fourth quarter. If the Packers ever get their wide receivers healthy, Finley’s role might be reduced to blocking.

Week 11 - Finley has not had more than two receptions in a game since Week 5 against Indianapolis and hasn’t reached the end zone since week 1 against the 49ers. Yet he had a couple big receptions in this game and was a big part of why the Packers were able to pull out a win. Finley’s first reception was a big one. Early in the second quarter, Finley ran a short crossing route while James Starks released into the flat on the side of the field where Finley was lined up. The Detroit linebackers both followed Starks and Finley was left alone in the middle of the field. Rodgers checked the ball down to him and he sprinted 20 yards for the easy score. Late in the game on the final drive, Finley came up big on two consecutive plays. The first was a short out route where Finley caught the ball in the flat and sprinted away from the defense for a huge 40 yard gain. On the next play, he ran a short curl to the same side for a gain of six. Two plays later Rodgers dropped a bomb to Randall Cobb in the end zone and the Packers took the lead for good.

Week 12 - Jermichael Finley had the second most receiving yards on Sunday but it was in a losing effort that was difficult to analyse. Finley could have had another catch but he dropped a pass on the outside, taking his eyes off the ball too quickly. Finley showed an incredible level of concentration hauling in a tipped pass. Rodgers threw a ball that got tipped, was almost picked off but fell into the hands of TE Finley who was tall enough to pluck it out of the air before anyone else could reach it. Finley had a tough time getting open down the field as the Giants played very good coverage deep down the field. The Giants had two deep safeties for most of the game, which took away Finley’s seam/post patterns and forced QB Rodgers to take checkdown passes instead. The Packers could not even manage enough offense for garbage time numbers and seemed to give up in the fourth quarter as the game was clearly out of reach. Finley’s value has decreased with emergence of WR Cobb and WR Jennings return next week won’t help his production either.

Week 13 - Finley has struggled with drops again this season, but this week he was sure-handed and reliable. Rodgers looked to him quite often in the second half as the Vikings chose to lock down James Jones and Randall Cobb. On his longest play, a 21 yard reception in the third quarter, Finley cut across the middle and totally left his defender behind. He jumped up, made the catch and immediately headed upfield. Three defenders converged on him and Finley lowered his head and charged into them for a few more yards. With his struggles this season, Finley finally took the opportunity to step up when they needed him to and perform well.

Week 14 - Finley didn't have a reception until he caught an out route underneath at the beginning of the third quarter. Two plays later Finley caught a similar pass.

Week 15 - Finley had a more active than usual day, as Aaron Rodgers hit the big tight end for multiple underneath and slant routes. Finley has continued to have issues with drops this season, but made most of his targets this week, hauling all but one in. He isn’t targeted at key moments though, and is clearly well down the list on the pecking order.

Week 16 - It seems hard to believe, but Finley’s Week Sixteen performance of five catches for seventy yards represented his highest receiving yardage total of the 2012 season. Randall Cobb’s early third-quarter injury resulted in increased targets from Finley, who responded with one of the best games of his otherwise lost season. The veteran tight end missed a short score on second-and-four at Tennessee’s eight yard-line with the Packers driving to the Tennessee end zone. Though this will not show up in the box score, Finley did put a lethal stiff-arm on Titans linebacker Will Witherspoon following a thirteen-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers, much to the delight of the partisan crowd at Lambeau Field. Finley’s increased looks going forward are, to no one’s surprise, contingent on the health and availability of Randall Cobb.

Week 17 - Finley made his first reception open in the flat after Rodgers checked down to him late in the play. Finley caught a short curl for five yards after lining up in the slot for his second reception. Finley caught a pass right at the goalline despite being held by a Vikings' linebacker. Finley caught a quick out that turned into a bubble screen for 16 yards just before halftime. A few plays later, after a big sack, Finley caught the same pass with a similar result to move the offense into field goal position. Finley caught a quick out for five yards late in the third quarter. On third and 20, Rodgers hit Finley right at the pylon as he beat a defender. Finley stretched out for the first down but was marked short. After converting fourth down, Rodgers went straight back to Finley open in the flat for six yards.

Week 18 - Finley's first reception went for 10 yards on first and 10 over the middle.

Week 19 - Finley made an excellent reception over the middle deep against tight coverage. The ball was tipped just before it arrived to him, but his instincts took over to coral it to the ground. Finley caught a short pass over the middle for seven yards with a defender draped on his back. Two plays later, Finley took a pass in the flat forward for two yards after sidestepping the initial tackle attempt. Finley caught a quick out for a seven yard gain with the game all but over.