[caption id="attachment_208" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Greg Jennings has watched most of 2012 from the sidelines. He has just 12 catches for the season, which could be his last in Green Bay."]
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Greg Jennings is not having the type of contract year he hoped for.
The seventh year veteran wide out has been banged up and ineffective throughout 2012 and will now miss the next several weeks when he undergoes surgery next Tuesday to repair a torn abdominal muscle that has plagued him for months.
The injury occurred late in Green Bay’s season opener to San Francisco. He reaggravated it Sept. 30 against New Orleans in the second quarter and has not played since.
Jennings tried rest and rehab over the last few weeks, but the decision was made earlier today that he would go under the knife in order to get back to 100-percent.
After eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark in three of his past four seasons, Jennings has been limited to just 12 catches for 78 yards and a touchdown in his two and a half games of action. It remains to be seen when and if he ever returns to his Pro Bowl form as a Packer.
Jennings is in the last year of his three-year, $26.35 million contract extension he signed in June of 2009. At 29 years old – he’ll turn 30 early next season – it’s perfectly fair to wonder if his days in the Green and Gold are numbered.
Factor in the emergence of Randall Cobb and James Jones and that question gets even more interesting to ponder.
Cobb burst onto the scene last year in his very first NFL game. He hauled in a 37-yard touchdown in the first quarter against the Saints and returned a kick 108 yards for a score in the third, tying the NFL record for the longest in history.
His 37 catches for 435 yards and three touchdowns have already surpassed his 2011 totals (25-357-1) and he is improving with each and every week.
In his last four games, Cobb has piled up 26 catches for 339 yards and three touchdowns and has turned into one of Aaron Rodgers’ favorite targets.
Last Sunday in St. Louis, Rodgers targeted him eight times and Cobb caught all eight, including a leaping touchdown in the end zone late in the game to seal the victory.
The second year man out of Kentucky looks to possess a perfect combination of size, speed and hands to be the next great Packer receiver and resembles the electric Percy Harvin more and more as the season continues.
Another bright spot for the Packers has been James Jones, who has also stepped up in the absence of Jennings.
Jones enters Sunday’s game against Jacksonville with 323 receiving yards on 29 catches and tied for the NFL lead with seven touchdowns.
He caught a pair of touchdowns three weeks in weeks 4-6.
His stone hands seem to be a thing of the past and he has transformed himself into maybe the best red zone weapon on the roster.
Jennings’ absence for the majority of the season was one of the first things to come up when discussing Green Bay’s offensive struggles earlier in the year.
However, Aaron Rodgers has looked like his MVP-self the last two weeks. He has completed 73-percent of his passes (54-of-74) for 680 yards and 9 touchdowns the last two games against zero picks on two of the league’s better defenses (HOU and STL).
Rodgers would obviously love to have Jennings healthy and back in the lineup, but does he really need him? A trio of Jordy Nelson, Cobb and Jones is still one of the most feared in the game and all three will be back next season.
Jennings – on the other hand – may not be.
Sources have said he is perusing a deal close to what Vincent Jackson received from the Buccaneers, over $11 million a year.
With Rodgers and sack machine Clay Matthews set to hit free agency in the next three years and the salary cap not expected to increase in the near future, Ted Thompson knows he can’t afford to keep everybody.
With great depth at the receiver spot and important decisions looming for the front office, Greg Jennings’ days as a Packer appear to be numbered.
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