Greg Jennings going to the Vikings isn't quite the same as Brett Favre doing it, but it's still a successful player who won a Super Bowl with the Packers leaving for its rival.
There was almost immediate chemistry between Jennings and the Vikings brass, however, especially when Jennings learned that the culture in Minnesota was a little bit different from what he had grown accustomed to in Green Bay.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a feature coming out with Jennings offering candid comments about Aaron Rodgers, Christian Ponder and his free agent visit to Minnesota in March. Jennings describes Green Bay as a lot more disciplined, and perhaps too much so.
Here's an excerpt:
When Jennings arrived at Manny’s downtown to meet a larger and more enthusiastic dinner party that included head coach Leslie Frazier, General Manager Rick Spielman and star defensive end Jared Allen, the rapport spiked. Quickly, he felt ready to join an environment where he felt players were trusted to be professionals without micro-management.
“It’s not a free-for-all. There’s structure,” Jennings said. “But there’s liberty. 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.”
Perhaps that's the difference between the Packers' success and the Vikings' lack thereof. Either way, Jennings is also there to mentor younger players. The Vikings have a few of them and they're trying to reinvent themselves after a couple of disappointing seasons.
