NFL Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings Should Strongly Consider Trading Greg Jennings

Fresh Videos

By @rickstavig

Greg Jennings, Minnesota Vikings

Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

At 2-5, the Minnesota Vikings season is on the brink of collapse. You could even make the case the season collapsed in early September when star RB Adrian Peterson was indicted. With defenses no longer loading eight men in the box to focus on stopping the run, the passing offense, already bad, crumbled even more. Already three games behind in the NFC North, the Vikes are going to have to go on one heck of a rampage to close out the season to join the playoff discussion, which is not likely, particularly if you’ve bore witness to their last three losses. This is exactly why the Vikes should shake things up and trade veteran WR Greg Jennings.

After missing on WR Mike Wallace, Jennings was signed from the hated Packers last spring to a 5-year, $45 million dollar contract with $17.8 million guaranteed. A pretty big contract for a player turning 30 and coming off a career-worst season in 2012, posting career low numbers in games played, receptions, receiving yards and yards per catch.

His first season in Minny was average, 68-receptions for 804 yards and 4 TD’s. Now in the second year of the contract and through seven games, Jennings has caught 26 balls for 345 yards and 1 TD, the latter of which came in the first game of the season. Again, average numbers being produced for a player being paid amongst the top ten at his position in the league.

Like I said earlier, the Vikings should trade Jennings. This year is very close to being a total waste, and there’s no sense in keeping him around any longer. His play on the field isn’t helping win games, nor is he a weapon that defenses game plan around. It’s obvious this team is committed to the youth movement, so he’s just taking snaps and targets away from young guys like Cordarrelle Patterson and Jarius Wright.

The financial impact would be acceptable. The first two years of his contract are the only years guaranteed, and the final three years carry the weight of the contract with $8.9 per year in 2015, 16 and 17. Even if the Vikings don’t trade him, he’ll likely to be cut after this year anyway because of those yearly salaries, so he’d have to agree to restructure his contract anyway.

What could the Vikes get in return for the 31-year old Jennings? Not too much, but a late round pick could be had. A team in contention that could use a veteran receiver off the bench or a playoff-bound team dealing with injuries to their receiving corps would likely be intrigued. Whoever trades for him won’t be too scared about his contract because if they want him past this year they’ll force him to restructure or he’ll be cut with no financial blowback.

The Vikings, in return, would clear up a little bit of cap space the rest of this year, would open up a roster spot and would free up targets for their young bucks. They’d also get a late round pick which, ya never know, could turn into something decent. Something is better than nothing, and that’s what they’ll get for Jennings if they keep him around just to dump him after this season.

Rick Stavig is an NFL Draft Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickstavig or add him to your network on Google+.

Share Tweet
Trending Now on