Update: Milwaukee’s Fox 6 has reported that Jennings’ deal is done. The deal is expected to make him the second highest paid receiver in the game, behind Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald. More on the actual numbers as they become available.
It’s the good, the bad and the ugly at Green Bay Packers minicamp this week (although I’m not sure what the ugly is – is Mike McCarthy’s wife there?).
Let’s start with the bad – Packers safety Nick Collins. He’s a child, it seems.
Collins has been stewing all offseason about his contract situation. He didn’t participate in OTAs. He did, however, show up yesterday to the Packers’ first mandatory offseason activity.
What he didn’t do, is handle himself like a man. Instead, he handled himself like a douchebag.
Collins was asked in several ways about his contract situation, and whether it might affect him showing up for training camp. Collins’ responses left the door wide open for him to hold out. From Kevin Seifert’s NFC North blog:
A reporter asked Collins if he planned to attend training camp. (Collins skipped most of the Packers’ offseason program because of reported disappointment about his contract status.)
“Who said I wasn’t?” Collins replied.
The reporter said he was just asking.
“Alright, we’ll see then,” Collins said. “How about that?”
It’s doubtful, at this juncture, that Collins will be a no-show when the Packers open training camp because he would be fined for each day absent, and he’s clearly demonstrated a love for money over anything else football related (he’s scheduled to make $3.045 million this season). We’ve also detailed how any extended training camp absence could severely limit Collins chance to remain the Packers starting strong safety this season.
Collins could have just said, “Hey, I’ll be there,” but instead decided to act like a punk.
On that note, here’s the good news. The Packers No. 1 receiver, Greg Jennings, appears to be close to a contract extension.
Jennings told the Journal Sentinel the deal is close to being complete.
“We’ve been working on some things. We’re coming pretty close, as far as my understanding is, to some type of a deal,” Jennings said. “But when I say close, we could still be far . . . if that makes sense. But I think we’re coming close. You just never know how long ‘close’ can take to actually closing the deal.”
In translation, that likely means the parameters (base salary, number of years) for the contract are in place, but the Packers and Jennings’ agent are working out small details (bonuses, incentives, etc.).
Expect Jennings to be paid somewhere in the range of $7-9 million per season. Why?
Tampa Bay’s Antonio Bryant makes $9.6 million, Seattle’s T.J. Houshmandzadeh $8 million, Dallas’ Roy Williams $7.8 million and Houston’s Andre Johnson $7.5 million per season. Other than Johnson, Jennings is better than all of these guys.
We’ll be back with details when the contract is signed.
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