Notes: Jennings to wait for new deal
By Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel
Green Bay - Focused on this season and not wanting to create a distraction for himself or the team, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings said he would prefer to wait until after the season to address his contract.
Jennings and quarterback Aaron Rodgers are two players the Packers have targeted for contract extensions, even though their deals aren't scheduled to expire until after the 2009 season.
Monday is the deadline for National Football League teams to apply any increase in a player's base salary to the 2008 salary cap, thereby allowing them to use up any available room they have now. The Packers have more than $20 million of salary cap space to burn and could use up a good chunk of it if they sign one of their younger players to a contract extension.
Jennings, who ranks second in the NFL in receiving yards and tied for 16th in receptions, is making a base salary of $445,000 this year. The four-year deal he signed as a second-round pick in 2006 included a $1.24 million signing bonus, and as one of the top producing receivers in the NFL he can strike now if he would like.
Yet it doesn't appear he will.
"I don't want to be a distraction," Jennings said. "I'm not trying to make a big deal out of anything that would take away from the team. I don't want to do any of that. If there is something going on, I don't even want to know about it."
It's possible Jennings' agent, Eugene Parker, has had discussions with the Packers but Jennings said his orders are to wait. He has told Parker that he doesn't even want to talk about a new deal because it would just distract from what he is trying to accomplish this season.
Once the season is over, he'll consider talking.
My thought process is that even if there is something out there, I dont want to do anything until after the season, Jennings said. I dont want to mess with it. Im going to wait. If it were to happen this season, it would happen at the end of the season. It definitely wont happen right now.
The Packers' main focus is on Rodgers, who is in the fourth year of a five-year deal. His base salary is $680,000, but escalators can earn him an additional $3.5 million based on various statistical milestones.
Rodgers has expressed his desire to remain a Packer but he is private about his off-the-field endeavors and hasn't spoken much about his contract.
More than a few players in the locker room said they expected Rodgers to have a new deal soon, but all Rodgers would say when asked if his agent and the Packers are working on a new deal is, Nothing that Im aware of.
Asked if that was him taking the fifth amendment, Rodgers said, Its a nothing that Im aware of. If I was, Id let you know. Eventually.