Jordy Nelson, Former NFL Wide Receiver

All right, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

Let's go out to the guest line right now. Welcome in a former NFL wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers and also wrapped up his career with the Raiders. That is Jordy Nelson, who is here with us today on behalf of the Fight for First. Make sure you visit the FightforFirst.com. Jordy, always appreciate the time.

Thanks for it. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing?

I'm doing fantastic. I got to take you back to week one. We were all watching it with your former quarterback Aaron Rodgers going up against the Buffalo Bills and four plays into his Jets career. He suffers the Achilles injury. What were you thinking when you saw a friend of yours and a former quarterback of yours and Aaron Rodgers go through that?

Obviously, just a point for him. First and foremost, every year you go through so much to get prepared for a season. Obviously, you don't want any injury to happen, but for it to happen that fast and everything that was built up with him and the Jets and how excited they were to get going is very deflating. Obviously, I've been through a season ending injury before and know what it does to you, especially that early in the season.

That was just kind of gutted right from the get-go. Was it weird for you how this whole offseason played out? We knew Rodgers and the Packers, once they drafted Jordan Love, there was inevitably going to be a split, but when it became finalized that he's going to New York and that career in Green Bay is wrapping up, was that just bizarre for you to see? I think more bizarre is how much it just matched what happened with Brett Favre. To have two Hall of Fame quarterbacks back-to-back for an organization and then pretty much 14 in the exact same way is pretty crazy sad on top of it.

I didn't talk so much about it and just let it all play out. Honestly, I was excited to see what he was going to do in New York. Hopefully, he can get healthy and come back next year and we'll still get that opportunity. What do you think the Jets are getting?

I know it's kind of like a stupid question. What are the Jets getting in Aaron Rodgers? But you knowing the way that he's wired, coming off an injury like that, what type of Aaron Rodgers do you think the Jets fan will see next year, assuming he's able to recover from the Achilles injury?

The fans don't see what the difference will make inside the locker room, inside the classroom. Just the work that he demands from everyone, mentally more than physically, and understanding the details of everything. That's what separates him and the guys. Honestly, we're able to get in connection with him with the details.

If you can gather the details and fine-tune those, you'll have success with them. Talking to Jordy Nelson right now on the Zach Gelb show. Let's get to the new quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, Jordan Love. I know he's been there for the last few years, but now five games in with him being the no-doubt-about-it QB-1 for the Packers.

We'll see how long that does last. You being a former Packer, what advice would you give to Jordan Love as he's embarking on this first full season as a starter? Just continue to work.

There's no special sauce to it. It's all just about work and learning and growing and retaining the good and the bad. Learn from your mistakes, learn from what you did better and what you did good, and just continue to grow. It's not going to be easy.

If anyone thought it was going to be, they're out of their mind. I don't know what the numbers were, but when Aaron took over for the first year, we went 6-10. It might have been a little different with the output we were having, but there's going to be bumps and bruises along the way. The way you handle those and develop through that and learn will make you the player you want to be. Did you see Rodgers right away? Was he comfortable when he took over that team? Because there's always, naturally, you're living in the shadow of the guy that was there before you. You know the way that Brett Favre was perceived in Green Bay and the quarterback he was. The same thing's happening right now for Jordan Love, where you're replacing a legend and you know that there's a certain standard there in Green Bay. Yeah, I think he was confident in what he could do, but I think there's kind of a grace period of taking over the locker room, if you will.

As the leader of the team, making sure everyone else is on board with you. Obviously, if you're a younger guy and you have a bunch of older guys on the team, when Aaron came in, it's getting their confidence and their belief in him. I think Jordan has a little bit different just because of how young the team is. He's been growing with these guys and they've been there since he's been there. It sounds like, from what you hear, the guys believe in him and know that he can go out and do it.

He's done it a couple of times. Just as a young quarterback and a young team, you're going to have the good games and the bad games. You've just got to fight through the highs and lows and try to become consistent. We're talking to Jordy Nelson right now. I know Christian Watson has been struggling to stay on the field.

Now, back with the Packers. What are your expectations in your number two for Christian Watson? I think the main thing is just continue to grow and be more consistent. I think any receiver or any player in the NFL who thinks and wants to be one of the premier guys, it's not whether or not you can do it.

There's a lot of guys that can do it. It's whether or not you can do it week in and week out and consistently be who you're supposed to be. Being on the field, making plays every week for 17 weeks now. That, I think, is the biggest jump that all young guys have to make is understand how important consistency is. Not only on Sundays, but honestly Mondays through Fridays when you're at practice and leading the team.

Show that you can make the plays every day in practice and that's how you stay consistent and your confidence grows. What we talked about with Jordan Love, that he has to prove it. I also look at Matt Lafleur and say, okay, he now has to prove that he can get the job done without having Aaron Rodgers there. Where's your confidence in Matt Lafleur leading this Packers team?

I mean, I think it's high. Obviously, there's going to be a feel-out process for all of them. They'll figure out what they like to do together, what works, what doesn't work. I mean, the receivers are still extremely young. Obviously, they're dealing now without their left tackle, so there's a lot of it offensively that they just got to continue to grind through. It's going to be different for a year, but they're in positions to win games.

They've been able to pull out some games and so they just got to keep battling through it. Wrapping up with Jordy Nelson, I know in the summer you got a pretty nice honor getting inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame. Clearly, that means a lot to you, but how did you describe that moment and when you found out that news?

Pretty surreal. I think when you're playing, at least for myself, you don't ever think about that stuff or talk about your accolades or your yards and your catches. But after your career, when it all comes to an end and you get that reward of being able to go into the Packers Hall of Fame of one of the best organizations there is in sports, it was a lot of fun.

To be able to go in with Josh Sitton, who was drafted the same year I was, is pretty unique. To be able to be drafted the same year, win a Super Bowl together, having to go to the Pro Bowl together, and then get to go to the Hall of Fame together is a lot of fun. I know it was an ugly split with McCarthy and the Packers, but since he was your coach and Mike's gone on to have two 12-win seasons with the Cowboys, bad performance the other night clearly against the 49ers, but if you had to speak to me a little bit about what kind of coach Mike McCarthy is and what he did for your career, how would you kind of explain that? I love Mike. Everything he did in Green Bay and what he did not only for me on the field but off the field as well with some different things me and my family had going on. I think he's a great offensive mind. He demands a lot from guys. He makes them work.

Having success at two premier organizations is big and he'll continue to have that. Tell me what you're doing today, the Fight4First.com and with this Fight4First campaign. Fight4First is a part of Compassion International. Their big thing is to help these pregnant moms in extreme poverty get their kid first born and then to their first birthday. As we all know, we have kids. Babies are very vulnerable at a young age. If we can get these kids to a year through their first birthday, they can have success and are better off. There's a lot of babies that don't make it. Every year there's nearly 4 million babies that don't survive to their first birthdays which is just extremely crazy. Fight4First allows them to get that accomplished. It provides prenatal care, nutritious food and clean water, assistance through childbirth, medical treatments and even on to help the kids develop as they go through their first year of life.

Once they hit one, they're able to get into Compassion International's program and have a very successful childhood through that. Last thing I'll ask you, Jordan Nelson, and once again you can visit the Fight4First.com for more information. If you were still on this Packers team and you were in that huddle and you see Jordan Love, what are your thoughts on the quarterback that you have and your view on the quarterback for Green Bay currently? I think you'd be confident in him.

I think he makes good throws, he makes good decisions, he's athletic enough to make the plays with the feet so you step in there confident and they just got to get healthy and stay healthy and things will be in good shape. Jordan Nelson, appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this. Thank you.