Greg Jennings Could Be Standing In Way of Larry Fitzgerald Signing
By Dan Zinski
With the news that Larry Fitzgerald likely won’t be returning to Arizona next year, speculation has naturally begun about the Minneapolis native landing with the Vikings.
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There is however one major obstacle standing in the way of Fitzgerald ending up in Minnesota (above and beyond the fact that he isn’t even a free agent yet), and that obstacle is Greg Jennings.
Before the Vikings can even think about making a move to bring in Fitzgerald, they will have to address Jennings and his contract. Jennings as of now is set to count $11 million against the cap in 2015 with $6 million in dead money. You’re going to pay Fitzgerald what he’s worth on the market – at least $6 million per year, if not more – while giving Jennings $11 million?
I could maybe see the Vikings paying Jennings and Fitzgerald $11 million between the two of them, but as of now you’re paying Jennings $11 million by himself. There’s no way Rick Spielman is tying up north of $15 million, and possibly closer to $20 million, in two over-30 wide receivers. Not happening.
Fans counting on Fitzgerald taking a home town discount to join the Vikings should put that idea out of their minds. Fitzgerald is not going to take a smaller contract out of sentimental attachment to the organization. Nor should he.
Realistically, you have to get Jennings’ cap number for 2015 way down. Even if you don’t mean to pursue Fitzgerald, you probably want to get that cap number down anyway.
Will Jennings agree to renegotiate? He probably will. Unlike Fitzgerald, who is a Hall of Fame receiver with big play ability, Jennings likely would not command healthy money and a multi-year deal on the open market. His best chance to get paid is by staying with the Vikings on a restructured deal.
There are some who will naturally suggest the Vikings should cut Jennings and use the money on Fitzgerald, but it’s never that simple in the NFL. The cap savings you would get from cutting Jennings this year amounts to only $5 million when you take dead money into account.
The total dead money remaining on Jennings’ deal adds up to $12 million over the final three years of his contract. Realistically, you have to carry Jennings for at least one more year in order to avoid taking a bath on his contract.
And even if you do get Jennings to take a significant pay cut, it likely would not free up enough money to make a Fitzgerald signing possible.
The truth is that, as long as Greg Jennings is in the mix for the Vikings, it’s probably not feasible to sign Larry Fitzgerald at anything but far below market value. Unless Rick Spielman is willing to completely reverse his free agent philosophy and tie up an exorbitant amount of money in two 32-year-old receivers, don’t look for Larry Fitzgerald in purple next year.