Jared Abbrederis has made a football career out of triumphing over adversity. But if he’s going to overcome this latest obstacle, it won’t be as the beloved home-state kid in Green Bay.
Two years after being the first Badgers player drafted by Ted Thompson, the wide receiver was waived by the Packers with an injury settlement, according to multiple reports. Abbrederis had been placed on the team’s injured reserve list Monday with a thigh contusion – not considered a season-ending injury – but since he’s hardly played this season, Thompson apparently decided to just release him and take the roster spot.
Abbrederis will be subject to the NFL’s waiver system for the next 24 hours; if he’s not claimed, he will be a free agent eligible to sign with any team when he’s healthy. There’s no guarantee that happens, though. Abbrederis had a history of head injuries before entering the NFL and he’s been injury-prone in two seasons with the Packers – suffering a torn ACL in 2014 and a concussion in 2015, among other minor maladies.
This season, he caught one pass for eight yards in five games before getting hurt Oct. 16 against the Cowboys, and then missed last week’s Bears game.
Wisconsinites will hope the perseverant receiver-returner, who was born in West Allis but went to high school at Wautoma, can continue his career. After walking on to the Badgers as a scout-team quarterback, Abbrederis eventually tied or set several school records, was drafted by Green Bay in the fifth round and came back from the 2014 knee injury to play in 10 games last year. In the Packers’ playoff loss to the Cardinals, he had four receptions for 55 yards, probably his best professional game.
Third-year receiver Jeff Janis and rookie Trevor Davis, both of whom have more speed than Abbrederis, a meticulous route runner, had moved ahead of him on the depth chart.
Abbrederis’ release leaves undrafted rookie safety Marwin Evans, who was born in Milwaukee and went to college at Utah State, as the only remaining Packers player with a state connection.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
