Greg Jennings was a free agent this offseason, a right he earned as a veteran in the NFL. So he had all the right in the world to sign wherever he wanted. The former Packers wideout chose the rival Vikings as his new home, and that’s a decision that won’t be too popular in Green Bay. Jennings’ most recent comments won’t help, either.
Jennings is getting ready to open his first training camp as a member of the Vikings after spending the first seven years of his career in Green Bay. The veteran receiver was arguably the Pack’s most dangerous receiving weapon over that time, as he became one of the best wideouts in the game.
He was, however, helped along by a pair of franchise quarterbacks. Jennings’ start in Green Bay was with Brett Favre under center, and he was there as Aaron Rodgers took over, eventually winning a Super Bowl with the 2011 MVP.
What we’re trying to say here is that Jennings has played with a couple of really, really good quarterbacks, QBs who probably helped him along just a little bit. Now, as Jennings gets set to catch passes from Christian Ponder, he’s taking some shots at the man who used to throw him the ball.
“A lot of times when you have a guy who creates that spotlight for himself and establishes that and takes a lot of that, it becomes so-and-so and the team,” Jennings told the Star Tribune. “It should always be the team.
“For me, I’m such a team person, I’m going to defer to my teammates. I’m going to defer to the team, to the team, to the team. And I think when you reach a point where you’re not deferring any longer, it’s no longer really about the team.”
According to the Star Tribune story, Jennings tried to clarify just a little, but he still let it be know where he stood.
“Don’t get me wrong, ‘12’ [Rodgers] is a great person,” Jennings added. “But when you hear all positives, all positives, all positives all the time, it’s hard for you to sit down when one of your teammates says, ‘Man, come on, you’ve got to hold yourself accountable for this.’ It’s hard for someone to see that now because all they’ve heard is, ‘I’m doing it the right way, I’m perfect.’ In actuality, we all have flaws.”
Jennings also managed to take a shot at the Green Bay system, which could just as easily been seen as another dig at Rodgers, among others.
“It’s not a free-for-all [in Minnesota]. There’s structure, but there’s liberty,” he said, according to the Star Tribune. “You can breathe. It’s like, ‘OK, I can do my thing.’ You know what you need to do. You get it done. Whereas [in Green Bay], everything was more cookie-cutter. … It’s just different. In a good way. And not knocking what we did there. Because obviously it was successful. But here, no one’s walking on egg shells.”
Unsurprisingly, Packers head coach Mike McCarthy was asked about the comments Thursday when meeting with the media in advance of the Packers opening training camp Friday morning.
“You know, when you put on that purple, something happens to you,” McCarthy joked with reporters.
The Packers will be in Minnesota in primetime on Oct. 27 as the Sunday night game, and Jennings will make his return to Lambeau Field on Nov. 24.
