Packers News: Greg Jennings is reportedly a Minnesota Viking

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Greg Jennings is now a member of the Minnesota Vikings

Almost four years after one beloved Green Bay Packer left for the Land of 10000 Lakes (and zero Lombardi Trophies), another member of the Green and Gold will don the purple.

That’s right, per Adam Schefter of ESPN now former Packers WR Greg Jennings has signed a five-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings.

After trading away Percy Harvin to the Seahawks,  the Vikings were in the market for a new deep threat for Christian Ponder and they got one in Jennings.

Initial reports of the dollar figures are 47.5 million  over 5 years with 18 million guaranteed. Jennings is the second high profile member of the Packers to join the Vikings since 2009 (Brett Favre) and this move undoubtedly will not sit well with many Packers fans.

The games against the Vikings will be a lot more interesting starting this season but consider this: now Aaron Rodgers will have another chip on his shoulder  to absolutely maul Minnesota.  An anonymous Packer player texted Mike Freeman of CBS Sports that he’s happy for Jennings but that “he went from prime rib to Burger King.”

That first Packers/Vikings game can’t get here soon enough.

As for the Packers, they will be fine.  With Randall Cobb, Jordy Nelson and James Jones they still have one the best groups of wide receivers in the league.    GM Ted Thompson likely will select a wide receiver at some point in the draft and Green Bay is still developing Jarrett Boykin.

The future is bright for this receiving corps. Relax, folks.

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Kris Burke is a sports writer covering the Green Bay Packers for AllGreenBayPackers.com and WTMJ in Milwaukee. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) and his work has been linked to by sites such as National Football Post and CBSSports.com.

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38 thoughts on “Packers News: Greg Jennings is reportedly a Minnesota Viking

  1. Thanks for the memories Greg you have been a great Packer, although your antics in the past year have been obnoxious.
    For all the TT haters, not resigning Jennings is the correct move regarding the cap situation, however drafting a WR in the top half of the draft is a priority.
    Lookout for Finley to get a two year extension in the next couple of days.

    1. No effin Way Finhead gets an extention. He’ll either be a huge All Pro by this time next year, or gone. (More likely)

      Now we need a couple DL, a S, A RB AND a WR from the draft to contribute THIS YEAR.

      And that’s assuming Bishop and Sherrod make it back. Great.

      1. All this talk about Finley being cut was just a smokescreen to increase Jennings deal ($47.5M over 5 years) so a rival can over spend on an aging free agent and to receive a 3rd or 4th 2014 compensation draft pick ( Win Win). At least that’s how imagine TT schemes.

        In all seriousness, if Finley doesn’t get an extension and has a good year, he may become a prime free agent target next year and too expensive to resign.

        1. Finley would only be 26 yrs old. Thompson would likely find a way to re-sign him. This 2 year deal was more a way to determine Finley’s long term value, than a short term solution. Thompson’s history is to let 30 yr old guys go and keep the 20 something’s that are in their prime productive years.

  2. The Minnesota Vikings: Where old Packers go to die.

    Darren Sharper. Ryan Longwell. Robert Ferguson. Brett Favre. And now, Greg Jennings.

    Screw you Vikings fans. While this one does hurt, your team is not and will not be on par with The Green Bay Packers until after ARod retires.

  3. Jennings is gone, so is woodson and hawk restructured. If Ted doesn’t now sign some help in FA before the draft, with this freeded up money ,im going to fly to GB and kick him in his Tightwad ass!

    1. 20 million a year is NOTHING for a franchise QB, OLB and NT.

      We’re tighter against the cap than anyone thinks.

      But this still sucks.

    2. The only thing Ted Thompson and the Packers have on the “absolutely must do to keep the Packers a viable contender” list is extend Rodgers and Matthews.

      Everything else is secondary. Period, end of story.

      Look, the 49ers and Seahawks are going all in this season. Great, they should, they’re knocking on the door. Better hope they get over the hump- all it takes is one loss to nullify all you’ve invested, and you might be looking at a long downward slope due to hasty, impulsive spending.

      In other words, the 49ers/Seahawks may just be constricting their window of opportunity by overspending in an attempt to get through it.. They may have a short term advantage on paper to win it all, but they may be setting themselves back for years in the aftermath.

      And, again, there’s no guarantees spending big money in FA will bring it all home.. As I said the other day, just talk to the fans in Philly..

      1. “on paper” they Might. Funny thing is the games are played on Grass!

        Business as usual in the NFCN. Other teams replace overpaid FA with more overpriced FA.

        Viqueens Lions and bears win in the offseason, the Packers win in the regular and post season! The ones that matter.

  4. Always disappointed in a Packers player jumping the border to wear Purple.

    I would have liked for Jennings to stay; it is not a crushing blow to see him leave.

    As much as I’d like to support Jennings who has historically been a stand up guy, he said this according to the JSO:

    “I’m not the first Packer player to jump on this side, so that makes it a little bit more revealing. It will be business as usual. Obviously it will be a little bit more meaningful to get a win over those guys than probably any game on the schedule.”

    Ouch. Guess what? Greg Jennings, you’ve officially earned a “Go EFF YOURSELF” from this one-time fan who was ready to wish you the best, even with the Vikings.. So sorry.

    Thanks for choosing Burger King, there will be a five year wait on your fries, please pull ahead..

    1. Business as usual is damn right… We get the players most productive and cheapest years and the viqueens sign our cast offs for the most expensive and least productive years!

      The more things change the more they stay the same!

      Loved Jennings as a Packer, but he can kiss my ass as a viqueen! Have Nelson, Jones and Cobb at WR so he’s expendable and we have Finley as a TE too!

      Good luck trying to catch Ponders “darts in the wind”! LMFAO

  5. HAHAHA!!! Oh man…. I love seeing Packers fans all riled up and soiling themselves. Well another Packer has come from the darkness and is walking in the light. Favre found Jesus, Sharper found Jesus, Longwell found Jesus, now Jennings has found Jesus, and so can YOU! Don’t feel like you have to be stuck being a shnasty Packer fan….. it’s not too late! Become a Viking fan and you too will find Jesus. Oh… and…. HAHAHA!!

    P.S. HAHA! lol

    1. Vikings fans and players have been looking for Jesus throughout their existence as an NFL Franchise?

      Well, that explains a lot.

      Packers fans and players have spent their time looking for Lombardi Trophies.

      God be with you, Vikings fans.

    2. Funny… Thing is Not a one of the former Packers have helped the viqueens win a SB, yet the former Packers got SB rings w/ GB!

      No real Packer fan is soiling themselves. They’re just waiting for a chance to shove your face in the fact that we win SB’s and You don’t! Dumb ass!

      Closed thing to Jesus in the NFL is at Lambeau field. They don’t call it hallowed ground for nothing!

      1. On Sundays my family worships at the alter of the NFL, Lombardi Sect. No one has ever found redemption, much less Jesus, in Domelandia. Sorry to see Greg go, sorrier to see him go to Hell, but HAHAHA is laughing alone.

  6. Just so everybody is clear on this.

    The Packers current cap – about 18million under. 4million will go to rookies and my guess is that Hawks restructur will save around 3million. So with all things included an estimate of about 17 million in money to spend.

    So lets look at the packers upcoming free agents and the money they have in cap room.

    17million to spend

    Aaron Rodgers – Current – 10 million
    Future – 20 million

    Clay Matthews – Current – 4 million
    Future – 12-14 million

    BJ Raji – Current – 6.5million
    Future – 6 – 8 million

    Okay, how much money is left? Nothing.

    Now lets keep going.

    2013 UFA

    Sam Shields current- 2million
    future – 4-8million
    James Jones current – 3 million
    future – 5-6million
    Marshall Newhouse current – 1.5 million
    future – 4-5 million
    J Finley current – 8 million
    future – 5-8 million
    also
    CJ Wilson
    Mike Neal – saleries will increase based upon how they played last year.

    Not to mention big increases for 2014 UFA’s

    Bryan Bulaga
    Jordy Nelson
    Randall Cobb

    Even releasing guys like Finley and Pickett next year will not give the packers enough money to sign their own quality players. Free Agency is fun and all but if you have have any understanding of the packers situation you would know they don’t even have enough cap room to sign their own proven players. Any free agent they sign means they will have to let another quality player go.

    1. I’m no cap genius, but my guess is the Packers are attempting to free up as much money as possible this year to get Rodgers a new deal before the end of the season that is as heavily front loaded as possible. This way they can get a substantial amount of cap money out of the way as quickly as possible.

      I would assume they’d also try to resign Clay before year’s end, but weight his cap money into next season as much as possible.

      I agree that many people mistakenly believe that $17m means the Packers should be signing FA’s left an right, and TT is just cheap… and those people are sadly mistaken.

      That said, I don’t think the cap situation is quite as dire as you have made it out to be. There will need to be careful -and creative- cap moves made, but I think the Packers cap situation is set to be managed quite well once they get through this lean year and Rodgers’ new deal.

      1. I agree… The Packers cap situation is tight, but its not dire. THey’ll find a way to keep the players at premium positions (Rodgers, Matthews and Raji) but it comes at the expense of other less important positions. Just no way around it… Some good players will be leaving GB in the next couple years. But the same was true of Jenkins and others. Its just business as usual in the salary cap NFL.

    2. Thanks for the breakdown. You are seeing the right picture. I don’t know how some of these teams are doing it. When your stars come due for a raise the whole picture changes.

      I am starting to hate football. The sport is getting lost in the business.

  7. my hate for favre was starting to thaw, with jenning going purple it’s coming back skrew you favre, jenning and future defectors to purple hell.

  8. In wake of the Jennings defection, people really need to understand this:

    The Packers method of roster management is not just “Draft and Develop” on the front side, but also “Catch and Release” on the backside.

    We’re just starting to enter that phase where our top players we’ve drafted and developed have reached their apex and will demand top dollar- and although they still are on top of their game, they will be on the down side of their careers moving forward. If they are at this point in Green Bay, that means they’ve probably played out their rookie contracts and were given extended contracts before they reached UFA to maximize the cost-to-production equation. They’ve given the Packers their best years while they’ve been ascending, and they’ve been fairly compensated.

    It is now that the Packers will let them test free agency. If other teams wish to pay for past performance on a long term deal, they will be allowed to go, the Packers will not overpay for talent that will be in decline (Do not forget Ron Wolf’s sentiments about it being better to let a player go a year too early than a year to late.)

    The void will be replaced by the (theoretically) now-well culled crop of draft picks from 3-4 years previous, who will be entering their second contracts of their careers as well, and in their primes (In this case, Jordy, Jones.) They will be next to leave, with guys like Cobb, Boykin, and Ross being the next crop ready to replace them in due time.. The cycle continues, the money stays reasonable, and you pay for ascending play and talent as opposed to descending past performance.

    “Catch and Release” is the flip side of “Draft and Develop”. It’s a part of the process.

  9. Jennings has been pretty disgusting the last year and I’d like the offense to transform into something else, so I’m glad that he’s gone.

    That being said, I hope he has an excellent career in Minnesota, and gets voted into the Hall of Fame first ballot and before Cris Carter.

  10. The bi-queens have been in existence for what? 53 years? And have never won a championship. …is that even possible? Odds say they should have won at least 1 or 2 championships. Since the queens joined the league the Packers (Gods team) have won 7 championships.

    When Green Bay flushes its toilets , the waste flows to Minnesota. Same with the packers left over players. The queens are basically losers, and thats why one of thier loser fans spouted off on our site.

  11. Jennings is just maxing out his $$$. If the Queenies are dumb enough to pay for damaged goods that’s their problem. No ill feels towards Greg, it’s a business.

    #1 The Packer problem is extending contracts on developmental players that don’t pan out. TT needs to separate the “wheat from the chaf.”

    #2 Anyone who thinks AR will get only $20 mil is not being realistic. His “Cap” hit will be $25 mil unless they can figure out a way to give him up front money with a high future value and a very long term deal to spread it over.

    #3 Before CM3 gets $12 mil + he needs to play a full 16 game schedule. The “Hammy” thing seems to be chronic.

    #4 Agree that Raji has already reached his max salary potetial unless he starts playing more aggressively. Makes a lot more tackles for loss and a reasonable amount of sacks should be his benchmark.

    #5 They’ll go with Finley’s $8 mil plus going into this season. A restrcured deal for next year will be on the table. He’ll be gone next year if he doesn’t sign it.

    #6 There are no more good Dlinemen left in FA. Dummerville and the “Glue Factory Horses” have screwed up their “Cap” royally. Denver got a $4 mil “Cap” fine this year.

    #7 Agree that SF and Seattle will be in a much more serious “Cap” situation in the next or two.

    #8 Even though the “Cap” situation for GB is more manageable going into the future, it will have an adverse impact this year. It appears GB is doing the status quo thing for 2013. They haven’t closed the gap on SF and have lost ground to Seattle. The good news is they are the only two teams that are performing at a level that will give GB issues. For the rest, AR and the “team concept” of play are adequate to make GB ranked right near the top.

    GO PACK!

  12. He was one of my favorite players until this last year he turned into a complete jackwagon… glad he is gone and he will fit right in with the losers..

  13. Jennings’ new deal, according to spotrac.com:

    Contract: 5 yr(s) / $47,500,000
    Signing Bonus –
    Average Salary $9,500,000
    End Year: 2017
    Free Agent: 2018 / Unrestricted

    If it’s true that the Packers offered Jennings a contract that averaged $10 million per year, then I don’t get why Jennings is leaving. The only thing I can see is the contract length, but even then, if Jennings didn’t get a signing bonus from the Vikings, then they’ll have little problems cutting him before the contract is up.

    1. Greg stated during his contract announcement presser yesterday that, in a nutshell, he felt wanted by the Vikings. Fraiser, Wilf, Allen, the whole kit’n’kaboodle, made him feel like he was a key component and they really wanted him there…

      In other words, and I hate to say it, but it sure sounds like he has started to develop a little bit of the primadonna complex.

      I mean, assuming the rumors are true (and they have come from pretty reliable sources), putting a $10m/yr contract on the table is a pretty solid way of a team telling a player they value your services.. I guess some guys just need their egos stroked, to be wined and dined.

      Also, he did mumble about GB having other younger, talented players on the field… So basically, Greg is done with what the WR corps has always been so proud of- that “team” concept, where they all share the load and make plays when they get the opportunity. I guess I can’t fault him for wanting to be the clear cut #1.. But it really feels like what he’s saying is, ‘Despite what I’ve said over the years, I don’t like the idea of having to watch the other guys in my room develop their skills and play at a level that rivals mine. I want to go someplace where they treat me like a diva, and I’m clearly the best WR on the roster.’

      Yup, I’m getting bitter fast after reading his comments and watching his presser. This was never REALLY about money, it’s been all about Greg.

      1. After reading some quotes from Jennings, I definitely agree with that assessment. Especially the part about him wanting to be the bona fide #1 target in the passing game.

        Yeah… don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Greg.

  14. WR Driver showed what happens when you keep a player too long. It costs cap money and delays player development. Football is a business and a team needs someone like TT who can look at the team and ballance both long term and short term issues.

  15. I’m disappointed. Jennings is a great player, great guy. Not sure what all the bad mouth about him last year. Complete Jackwagon? Disgusting? Seriously?

    He’s got lot of great football life in him, so what if he had injury…it was due to him coming back to play too soon probably.
    He was reliable, and would have been more productive if there weren’t such a strong corp of receivers.
    I bet he racks up his strongest stats next year.
    Ahh well, hope we get a good 4th rnd developmental receiver in the draft.

  16. I’m sick of hearing about this “its a business” BS. There’s still a thing called loyalty. If Jennings wanted to be a Packer, he would still be one. I guess he’d rather catch 5 yd passes from Ponder than have a legit chance at another ring. He’s gonna miss Rodgers …

  17. Some of you guys are overlooking Jennings GUARANTEED money–he’s guaranteed as much as the Packers were willing to sign him for. I don’t think Thompson was willing to make “guarantees” to a player of Jennings age.

  18. I’m not going to miss Jennings that much, and likely will GB. Rodgers still tossed 39 TDs and loads of yards with Jennings only catching 4 TDs and less than 400 yards. Also we didn’t have a 1,000 yard receiver; Rodgers throws to the open guy and we have a few guys who can get open.

    That said Jennings started 5 games last season and we lost 3 of them. Cobb is dynamic and set for a big year, and Jones found his hands. Jordy played hurt.

    Point is the Packers did ‘produce’, the problem with this team is how inefficient they are, particularly with sacks allowed, ground yardage (both yards and YPC), and on defense stopping the run (YPC).

    Goodbye Greg Jennings, thanks for all the memories, the Denver game 07 in OT and your sister’s whiny tweets come to mind.

  19. We should get a pretty good comp pick for that contract. It’s too bad the league doesn’t factor in the destination of a lost UFA. For example, going within the division would merit a higher comp pick, whereas leaving the conference would not. And going to the Bears would be an automatic 1st round comp pick.

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