Vikings release Greg Jennings

[Dirtyswabby]

I think for the first time since I joined this board Im agreeing with Demi. The Vikings simply gave entirely too much money to Jennings who was in the downside of his career. It was going to end this way regardless. His production hasn't met his pay, sure he is a great dude and a good person, we were just over paying, hence why the Vikings asked for a restructure. This is entirely on Jennings shoulders, he could have stayed but chose not to take a pay cut, im 100% sure his agent knew this was going to happen as well.

[CbusVikesFan]

This was a good business move by the team. I hold no allegiance to Jennings, who cares how well he can teach or still play, Jennings is not the player he once was and the salary owed to him can be spent elsewhere to make the team better.

[VikeMike]

I was surprised how fast this move was made ... Because of the speed, I'm hoping that this was all predetermined when they traded for Wallace. As in, if Jennings doesn't take the salary cut the Vikings wanted him to, he would get released.

It seems to me that they obviously have a direction they want to take, and want to find players to match their system. Jennings fell victim of the regime change and the combined salaries of he and Wallace were the deciding factor.

I think it speaks more to the confidence they seem to have in Johnson -- unless they use their first pick on a WR, which I now don't see happening. "They" say it is a deep draft for receivers, so I wouldn't be surprised if they go defense in the first round and pick a WR somewhere down the road.

This sure is going to be another interesting offseason, with the AP situation up in the air and plenty of time between now and the draft.

[Laserman]

And once again we weaken our WR corpes? It wasn't very good to begin with and we release the best one we had?

[Dirtyswabby]

And once again we weaken our WR corpes? It wasn't very good to begin with and let release the best one we had?

I knew our WR weren't the greatest, but I didn't realize they were dead

Honestly just because he was the best we had doesn't mean we have to keep him on as a top five paid WR, thats just bad for business.

[PacificNorseWest]

And once again we weaken our WR corpes? It wasn't very good to begin with and let release the best one we had?

Charles Johnson was the best. Easily. And with Wallace, they now have an NFL-caliber 1, 2-punch. Jarius Wright is no slouch either. He can produce. And I still think they draft an impact WR, so I'm loving the direction.

[chicagopurple]

at the very least, the Vikes are showing that WR is an important part of their off-season planning. They seem to have realized that you cannot compensate for a lack of WR by carrying a large number of TE's. One relatively highly drafted WR and a couple of high choices for OL is what we need to see this year in order to really Give Teddy a fair chance at shining!!

[Mothman]

Charles Johnson was the best. Easily.

Easily? I have to disagree with you. Johnson emerged as a more viable option in the game @Chicago, and had a 4 game stretch where his average yards per catch was outstanding, culminating in a 4 catch, 103 yard, 1 TD performance against the Jets. At that point, he was firmly on the radar of opposing teams and consequently, his production steadily declined over the last 3 games.

And with Wallace, they now have an NFL-caliber 1, 2-punch.

We'll see. I'm not sold on Johnson as a starting WR.

Jarius Wright is no slouch either. He can produce. And I still think they draft an impact WR, so I'm loving the direction.

Wright's a playmaker and I'd like to see the ball in his hands a little more in 2015. I don't know if I like the overall direction of the WR corps or not. It's clearly a work-in-progress. It should be interesting to see what it looks like when the season gets underway and how whoever they have starting (presumably Wallace and...someone) actually performs.

[PacificNorseWest]

Strictly from the eye test, yes. I feel confident in saying he was easily the Vikings best receiver.

Ah..Here:

3. Bumped into former Browns offensive coordinator Norv Turner and one of the more depressing things he related was that Charles Johnson is “far and away our best receiver” on the Minnesota Vikings.

Norv happens to agree.

http://espncleveland.com/common/more.ph ... t_id=42621

[Mothman]

Strictly from the eye test, yes. I feel confident in saying he was easily our best receiver.

It's interesting how different individual perceptions are. Based strictly on the eye test, I'd say there's no way he was the Vikings best receiver! To me eyes, Jennings was clearly a much more skilled player and frankly, I prefer Wright's game too. The more defenses realized Johnson was someone they actually had to worry about it, the more they shut him down. I think he briefly benefitted from being under the radar for a bit and now that he's not, he'll have to raise his level of play to remain a starter for long.

[Mothman]

Strictly from the eye test, yes. I feel confident in saying he was easily the Vikings best receiver.

Ah..Here:
Norv happens to agree.

http://espncleveland.com/common/more.ph ... t_id=42621

Yeah, I've seen that but I think Norv has a little crush on his project. As I've already made clear, I'm not sold on Turner's judgment. In fact, I'm a little concerned that Zimmer seems so loyal to him and that he may have placed a bit too much faith in ol' Norv, who was slow to adjust last year as we watched the Vikings offense descend in the NFL rankings.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

It's interesting how different individual perceptions are. Based strictly on the eye test, I'd say there's no way he was the Vikings best receiver! To me eyes, Jennings was clearly a much more skilled player and frankly, I prefer Wright's game too. The more defenses realized Johnson was someone they actually had to worry about it, the more they shut him down. I think he briefly benefitted from being under the radar for a bit and now that he's not, he'll have to raise his level of play to remain a starter for long.

I agree. While Johnson was interesting to watch and had some good games, his production trailed at the end. Charles was a great find and I think he has the ability to have another solid season, but he is still largely an unknown at the position.

[PacificNorseWest]

It's interesting how different individual perceptions are. Based strictly on the eye test, I'd say there's no way he was the Vikings best receiver! To me eyes, Jennings was clearly a much more skilled player and frankly, I prefer Wright's game too. The more defenses realized Johnson was someone they actually had to worry about it, the more they shut him down. I think he briefly benefitted from being under the radar for a bit and now that he's not, he'll have to raise his level of play to remain a starter for long.

Well, hold on now. We need context here because Greg Jennins was far and away the Vikings most technical receiver. From route running to footwork, he was the best. However, that didn't translate to game breaking ability or seperating himself enough from the defense. He made some great catches out there, but they didn't yield many yards after the catch. His touchdown number reflects this quite well.

Jarius can do a little bit of everything, but isn't great in any one area. He's a great deep ball receiver, if he has the separation. He's not a guy you're throwing jump balls too in the redzone.

Charles Johnson can go deep, is a red zone threat and is great at working the middle of the field. He's the exact type of talent that you want as a #1 receiver. If he was blanketed by the defense, that's because they finally decided to respect the threat, but if he's the main option and you don't have Jennings getting enough separation and then you're relying on Jarius to get open and they can't or don't, then there's no reason for the defense to play off Charles any.

[Mothman]

Well, hold on now. We need context here because Greg Jennins was far and away the Vikings most technical receiver. From route running to footwork, he was the best. However, that didn't translate to game breaking ability or separating himself enough from the defense. He made some great catches out there, but they didn't yield many yards after the catch. His touchdown number reflects this quite well.

... and yet he led the team in receiving TDs with 6, which speaks volumes about his ability and the ability of the other WRs. I agree that Jennings isn't a game-breaker or a great deep threat but I don't think those qualities alone define the best overall receiver on a team.

Charles Johnson can go deep, is a red zone threat and is great at working the middle of the field. He's the exact type of talent that you want as a #1 receiver. If he was blanketed by the defense, that's because they finally decided to respect the threat, but if he's the main option and you don't have Jennings getting enough separation and then you're relying on Jarius to get open and they can't or don't, then there's no reason for the defense to play off Charles any.

It's a long road from a few strong games to "easily" the best WR on the team and an even longer road to "exact type of talent that you want as a #1 receiver". Johnson's no such thing as far as I'm concerned, not at this point in his career. I've never liked the term #1 receiver much but to me, Antonio Brown, A.J. Green and Calvin Johnson are examples of "#1 receivers". Johnson's a backup who came in, flashed as a starter and after a good month, saw his production steadily drop. It didn't look like that took a concerted effort by opposing defenses to shut down an exceptional talent either.

Look, I'm not trying to rip the guy. He did a good job and I'm hoping he can become a very good starting receiver for the Vikings. That would be great. He clearly has talent but I think people (including Norv) are going overboard in praising him.

[IrishViking]

It was pretty obvious once they started putting the best defenders on Johnson that he was average to below. Hes raw and I expect him to improve but still raw.