James Jones. Who? James Jones! If you listen closely you can hear Green Bay faithful chanting in celebration for the return of the fan-favorite WR. For a WR that has been cut twice in the past year, he is expected to make quite the splash back in Green Bay. The ripples should have a huge impact on the rest of the Packers offense.

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First, Jones is not washed up. He is only one year older than Jordy Nelson and is coming off a year where a posted a career high number of receptions while working with an unfamiliar rookie QB. His releases from Oakland and New York were for reasons unrelated to his on-field performance. The Oakland Raiders wanted to move to a younger WR corps, while the Giants could not justify keeping a No. 4 WR on their roster who could not play special teams.

Expect Jones to be fully ready to play vs. the Bears. He has only been gone from Green Bay for one season, and, from an interview on Packers.com, Jones states the offense is still 99% the same. Think of it this way, when Nelson returns next year, he will have missed the same amount of games with the team as Jones did. Look for Jones to immediately show a sixth sense style of chemistry with Rodgers full of back shoulder throws and improvised routes.

Jones’ return should relieve any angst Aaron Rodgers owners felt after the Jordy Nelson injury. Jones will help fill many of the holes the Nelson injury opened. While the Packers still are very excited about their existing group of WRs, Jones brings a rapport with Rodgers, physicality, and a deep threat to the Packers offense.

Perhaps the biggest loser of Jones’ return to Green Bay is second-year WR Devante Adams. Both Adams and Jones are used as outside WRs in the Packers offense. After the Nelson injury and before the return of Jones, Adams was the only established outside WR on the Packers roster, projecting to play nearly all of the Packers offensive snaps. While Adams is still listed above Jones on the depth chart, expect to see a rotation at the position or both on the field at the same time. Previous to Jones’ arrival, Adams was projected to catch around 85 balls, but that number should move to the 60-70 range.

Another loser of Jones’ return is TE Richard Rodgers. Not only did Rodgers lose jersey No. 89, but he loses a large number of red zone targets to the more established Jones (Jones led the league with 14 TD catches just two short years ago). This addition is devastating to Rodgers’ fantasy appeal which was centered on catching TD passes. In effect, Rodgers returns to the deep end of the waiver wire pool.

Other losers from the return include Jeff Janis, who will probably spend most Sundays again on the inactive list. Eddie Lacy could also perhaps lose a few goal line TDs to back-shoulder throws to Jones.

Randall Cobb should be mostly unaffected from the addition of Jones. If anything, this move could make Cobb more effective as it alleviates the pressure for him returning off his shoulder injury and allows him to work more from the slot. Ty Montgomery‘s stock also remains stable as a long-term sleeper option as he grows in the offense.

James Jones 2015 Projections:

50 Catches

675 Yards

6 TDs

Great TD Celebrations

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Trevor Spranger is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Trevor, you can check out his archive or follow him @tspranger.

