It wasn't really a bitter departure, but Jonathan Greenard's exit from the Minnesota Vikings is one that eventually began to feel inevitable this offseason. Ultimately, the Vikings worked out a trade to send Greenard to the Philadelphia Eagles, and the veteran edge rusher also got what he was looking for in the form of a contract extension from his new team.
Recently, Greenard appeared on the "Green Light with Chris Long" podcast and shared some of the details behind what eventually led to him leaving Minnesota.
"Make no mistake, everybody knew that it wasn't about me not wanting to be in Minnesota. That was not it at all. We knew that it was strictly about contract and money at this instance.
Myself, being an edge guy, we understand how much we can affect the game, and whenever I see that my worth is, I'm not gonna say not viewed the same, but yeah, it's kind of essentially that. [I wasn't] viewed the same as I think in my head from that team.
We [had] to see who [was] going to value [me] at that point, and I [kept] going back to Philly was that team and shit. I [got] the call Friday around two and they're like, 'Yeah, it's happening.'”
Jonthan Greenard admits he didn't think the Minnesota Vikings valued him enough to earn a new contract
It doesn't sound like Greenard has any hard feelings towards any member of the Vikings, and it was basically just a case of him wanting to be paid an amount that he felt was closer to how he compared to some of the top edge rushers around the NFL.
What's a little odd is that, yes, the Eagles did give him a pay boost in the form of a four-year, $98 million extension, but it's not like he got a huge raise.
Before signing his new deal with Philadelphia, Greenard's contract with the Vikings paid him an average of $19 million per season. With the Eagles, the new average annual value of his deal is $24.5 million, and that's currently still only the 15th-highest AAV among all edge rushers in the league, according to Spotrac.
What seems more likely is that Greenard wanted the extra security of adding more years onto his deal with Minnesota, which was set to expire in 2028. Now, his contract with Philadelphia doesn't expire until after the conclusion of the 2029 season.
But with a younger and cheaper Dallas Turner waiting in the wings, can anyone really blame the Vikings for not wanting to extend Greenard this offseason?
At some point, room needed to be made for Turner to get more time on the field, and by wanting a new deal this year, Greenard made the decision to move on from him pretty simple for Minnesota.
Add us as a preferred source on Google