Arizona Cardinals thankfully say goodbye to J.J. Nelson

Receiver J.J. Nelson has moved on from the Arizona Cardinals in free agency

Hey Oakland Raiders, he’s your problem now.  The Arizona Cardinals lost receiver J.J. Nelson in free agency to them on Friday.

Nelson, a fast deep threat coming out of the University of Alabama-Birmingham in 2015, never reached showed the potential many thought he would show in the NFL.  He had his good moments surely, including a long 79-yard touchdown reception a couple of seasons ago at the Seattle Seahawks.

Who can also forget the great 64-yard touchdown catch he had in the second half against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday Night Football in 2015?  Those types of moments unfortunately were few and far between.

He did stay out of trouble and for the most part was healthy.  However he had a huge issue hanging on to the football over the past couple of seasons.

The Cardinals never publicly said what their intent would be moving forward once the 2018 season ended, however with the pending addition of receiver Kevin White, it was clear the Cardinals were getting ready to move on.

Its too bad.  It would have been great to see Nelson succeed and be in a Cardinals uniform a long time.  The results just didn’t match the potential.

Last season a lot of fans had seen enough and week after week were asking why the Cardinals continue to go to him.  Certainly understandable at the time given how miserable the Cardinals were playing.

Nelson only caught seven passes in 2018 on 19 targets.  He did not score a single touchdown in 14 games played.  That kind of production will not keep you around too long.

He had 81 receptions over his four seasons in the desert.  He had a total of 10 receiving touchdowns and also had one rushing.

We wish Nelson the best with the Raiders.  He will join Antonio Brown as a new target for quarterback Derek Carr.  Maybe he can turn it around.  I will be rooting for him to do so but it was just time to move on from Arizona.