Sure, they can’t control where free agents wind up, but if that’s the case they could have traded him last season and gotten SOMETHING for him while making sure he didn’t land within the division. As it turned out, they did neither.

On the other hand, Jennings is in Minnesota to replace departed Percy Harvin who left for Seattle. From Minnesota’s perspective, they’re getting an upgrade. Harvin had a breakout season last year but has been a cancer to the organization with his grumbling, the migraine headaches, and durability issues.

Harvin’s the more versatile player by far. He can play from either the slot or from the backfield or even split wide on the edge despite his lack of prototype size. He’s too quick to consistently re-route, and he is an accomplished kick and punt returner. Jennings is the prototype wide receiver “only” type of player, but he’s a true #1 go-to receiver. The question now is how well QB Christian Ponder can get him the ball and how he matures. He has the NFL’s greatest star running back behind him and a top-five pick in Matt Kalil at left tackle. With any sort of threat at all opposite Jennings, Ponder should put up or shut up this season.

Jennings’ contract is 5 years and $47 million contract, $18 million of which is guaranteed.

The story on Elvis Dumervil is a bizarre one. Two different stories are coming out between the Broncos’ organization and Dumervil and his agent. What’s clear is he’s currently a UFA because his contract expired.

He said/they said. What appears to be true is that Denver made some last-minute changes/mistakes in some of the wording and figures of the contract, which was “faxed over” to the Dumervil camp. Dumervil’s agent then let the Broncos know they didn’t accept these terms and to fix the errors. Long story short, it didn’t get “fixed” by the deadline and Dumervil became a “paperwork casualty” and as a result, was released.

This just smells. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening and if Dumervil isn’t a Bronco next season I’ll have lost respect for them. If that’s the case, they’ll have been telling him one thing while planning a completely different path, and that’s just wrong. I do know they wanted him to take a pay cut and he refused, but if that’s the issue it should be openly discussed and negotiated by the two parties the same as other ADULTS do in every contract.

Keep your eyes peeled and ears open on this one. It could get uglier before it gets better.

Percy Harvin was traded to the Seattle Seahwaks hours after the Baltimore Ravens traded WR Anquan Boldin to San Francisco. Both deals look to be good for each team involved because of their specific situation. Harvin wasn’t happy in Minnesota and Boldin wanted more money than the Ravens wanted to pay, so in their case they at least got something in return for letting Boldin go – a 7th round pick. The Niners get a veteran receiver that will help the team, the locker room, and be a leader by example for the younger WRs on that squad.

But what about other big names like Mike Wallace and Greg Jennings?

The biggest contract is going to go to Mike Wallace. Since the Miami Dolphins have been heavily courting him and the Vikings traded Percy Harvin, they’ve become involved in a bit of a bidding war which will drive up the price on the wideout. Miami should still land him, but the money is going to be in the $12 million (or higher) a year range.

In a particularly deep free agent pool this season, Wallace is the man people want but what about others?

Receiver Greg Jennings, a bona-fide #1 WR in his own right, could be the Vikings’ consolation prize and at a bit of a discount from Mike Wallace. Jennings is the more experienced, polished guy while Wallace has the physical tool – speed – which cannot be coached.

I think it’s somewhat odd that the Dolphins are pursuing Steelers’ WR Mike Wallace and not former Packer Greg Jennings. Jennings is much more of a blue-collar hard worker while Wallace is somewhat of a hard case – one that would actually cost more to sign than Jennings. The only reason I can think of as to why Philbin doesn’t want his old #1 wideout is that there may be some sort of injury he has that makes Philbin uncomfortable in signing the guy. Just conjecture on my part, but one has to wonder about the situation.

Jan 5, 2013; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings (85) gets away from Minnesota Vikings cornerback Chris Cook (20) in the second quarter of the NFC Wild Card playoff game at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

If you’ll recall in the UFA period LAST season, Philbin didn’t go after QB Matt Flynn with his $8 million price tag. Yes, they had sights set on Ryan Tannehill at number 8 overall as offensive coordinator Mike Sherman had been his old college HC at TAMU the previous year. Philbin had intimate knowledge of Flynn’s capabilities, didn’t chase after him, and as it turned out, Flynn signed with the Seahawks, they drafted Russell Wilson, and Flynn couldn’t beat him out of the starting position.

Wallace most certainly has the speed advantage over Jennings. He has the speed advantage over everyone in the entire NFL with the possible exception of CJ2K. It’ll mean enemy defenses have to respect that speed with safety help deep, making sure Miami’s two young running backs (without Reggie Bush’s presence) won’t be facing 8-man fronts…and likely why Minnesota jumped in the bidding war after trading Percy Harvin with Adrian Peterson in the backfield. He WILL see 8 or even 9-man fronts without replacing Harvin’s explosiveness, and they need to do so in free agency. Rookies at picks 23 and 25 in the first round won’t do the job.

Meanwhile, Greg Jennings has been the more consistent performer and producer, and probably will be a less up-and-down wideout wherever he lands than will Mike Wallace.

On the other hand, Wallace and Tannehill together could threaten every square inch of real estate on the gridiron on any given play. Wallace has the speed to separate and Tannehill has the howitzer to get the ball to him. The Dolphins do have a much less pricey and diva-like WR in-house as it is when they re-signed 6’3″ Brian Hartline. Hartline has very good speed (4.54-40) for his size and frame, and has physical abilities similar to those of big diva-like WR Brandon Marshall, whom Philbin let go almost as soon as he got off the plane in Miami as their Head Coach.

Dec 23, 2012; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brian Hartline (82) catches a pass against Buffalo Bills defensive back Justin Rogers (26) in the second half at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Miami won 24-10. Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

With one of the NFL’s top-ten slot WRs in Davone Bess, who can go back to exclusively playing from the slot, the addition of Wallace and retention of Hartline suddenly makes this Miami passing attack legitimate, even without much of an increase in talent at TE. However, the Dolphins have the draft choices to move up and down the board at will, like the much more talked about Niners’ draft choice pile-up and the Darrelle Revis trade talks that have been simmering.

So, it appears that the Minnesota Vikings will jack up Wallace’s price tag by $2-$3 million a year and Miami GM Jeff Ireland has to be cursing them. However, it still looks like the Dolphins get Wallace and it’s more iffy with the Vikings, but I think they sign Jennings…probably for more around the $9-$12 million range where Wallace could command $12 million at least and as much as $15 million at the high end.

The plan for paying for part of this has been churning since last season when the Dolphins drafted Stanford tackle Jonathan Martin. Fast forward a year, and pricey but injury-prone LT Jake Long is a free agent and Martin will be asked to cover the left side of the offensive line at about a fifth of the price of Long’s ROOKIE contract salary. That’s where most of the money for Wallace (or maybe Jennings after all) is coming from.

For Panthers’ fans, it means this is not such a great year to look for a UFA WR to add to Cam’s arsenal, despite the talent that’s out there. They don’t have the cap room….yet. In any case, it’s improbable for Panthers’ GM David Gettleman to make a huge high-profile FA signing on the heels of a GM (Marty Hurney) who had zero cap discipline. It’s exactly that sort of thing that got the Panthers into cap trouble in the first place; besides, it’s never been Gettleman’s style while in New York.

With the Mike Wallace/Greg Jennings saga, there’s probably a good reason why the Dolphins are chasing the faster but less accomplished Wallace over Jennings. We just don’t know what that reason is.

I guess time will tell.

Jan 1, 2012; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson (87) catches a touchdown pass behind Detroit Lions cornerback Alphonso Smith (27) during the second quarter at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Now that the mini-camps have begun, rookies and reserves get a new chance to show what they can do for their teams. Unfortunately for them, the Packers’ offensive rotation is going to be the league’s toughest to crack into.

What’s not to like about this offense? Well, there are a couple of concerns. First, their draft:

1 28 Nick Perry LB USC
2 51 Jerel Worthy DE Michigan State
2 62 Casey Hayward CB Vanderbilt
4 132 Mike Daniels DE Iowa
4 133 Jerron McMillianSS Maine
5 163 Terrell Manning LB North Carolina State
7 241 Andrew Datko T Florida State
7 243 B.J. Coleman QB Tennessee-Chattanooga

Obviously, they wanted to help their NFL-worst-in-history pass defense. More on that later.

The main concern on offense is their lack of ability to run the ball. Some say James Starks is poised for a breakout year and the Packer offense, while highly prolific, lacked much of a running threat last season. They still went 15-1.

The fact is, while they’d certainly like to improve the ground attack to where opposing defenses at least have to respect it, you can win championships in the NFL without it. It’s just a bit more difficult when you have an underdeveloped ground attack.

The Packers, Patriots, and Colts all have won the Super Bowl in the last decade without having any potency there. They’ve just decided that the rules are easier for passing and developed the passing game, route trees, and styles to the n’th degree. The Giants have shown what a balanced attack can do for you and the league is finally taking notice.

Yeah, you really do need a semblance of running game to put you over the top. Or, at least, it helps.

With that in mind, the Packers feel Grant is ready to be the guy heading into his third professional campaign. They’re the NFL’s most loaded team at the skill positions by FAR – even 2011 rookie sensation WR Randall “Tex” Cobb is 5th on the depth chart and gets most of his action in the return game. Okay, so I labeled him with the nickname of a kickboxer from 30 years ago. Sue me.

Starting will of course be the league’s best QB, AR-12. He’s got a strong arm, is accurate, throws a great deep ball and is mobile. He has no weaknesses.

On the outside are deep threat Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson. James Jones and all-time Packer receiving record holder Donald Driver work the slot and backup the outside guys. The aforementioned Randall Cobb is next, but could move up a little bit on the depth chart with another good preseason. He has that speed that cannot be coached and is a nightmare in the open field.

TE Jermichael Finley is as good a target as there is at the position anywhere, including “Gronk” of the Patriots. The difference is that the Packers have multiple threats everywhere while the Patriots do not. The Patriots find their favorable matchups in other ways like double TE sets but get the job done.

The big problem was the massive yardage they gave up through the air. And I mean BIG. Despite the presence of All-Pro CB-turned-Strong Safety Charles Woodson, the 2011 version of the Green Bay Packers gave up more yardage passing than any team ever has. Similarly, the Patriots had the second all-time worst pass defense the same year and still nearly won the Super Bowl.

I think this demonstrates the evolution of the rules and the league’s transition into a pass-happy league as much as anything. After all, the Packers DO have Clay Matthews but last year proved he needs help.

If you’ll look at the draft, that’s exactly what the organization did. Nick Perry will likely start at OLB opposite Matthews in their 3-4 defense and the hope is he’ll be able to bring some heat down on enemy QBs with Matthews wreaking havoc on his side.

Jerel Worthy is listed as a DE, but played defensive tackle in college. However, the 3-4 defense requires larger, stronger ends to set the edge against the run and occupy blockers, so a transition to end for Worthy is not unusual since they already have massive NT B.J. Raji at the 0-technique. Ryan Pickett will probably start, but Worthy should push him early and see his own snaps in the rotation and provide some depth until he gets his NFL DE legs under him. Jarius Wynn anchors the other side.

A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop provide a decent ILB duo against the run, but for practical purposes opposing teams are pressed into passing just to keep up with the Aaron Rodgers machine so stopping the run is really only a big concern in short yardage and goal line sets in the first place.

Tramon Williams should get the starting nod at the right cornerback spot while Sam Shields holds down the left. Both guys are statistically above-average players with Shields having the biggest upside at this point. It’s strange, because the Packers have a decent back-seven but then again it just underscores the passing rules favoring the offense.

It is the New York Giants that have provided us with the blueprint for defeating or at least slowing down vaunted passing attacks with their “NASCAR” package being the exclamation point. Since the Giants are deep in DE/pass rusher types, they decided to use a package with 4 DEs all playing the line. When you’ve got Justin Tuck, Osi and JPP, you have the personnel to do it. Other teams are taking notice and the quickest path to improving pass defense is NOT getting 2 wonderful cover corners as it is putting at LEAST two wonderful pass rushers on the field at the same time.

That’s how Denver improved their defense last season – adding DROY Von Miller to one side and getting Elvis Dumervil off of Injured Reserve from 2010.

The Packers only used one draft pick on a corner, taking Vandy’s Casey Heyward at the end of round 2. He’ll help provide depth initially or possibly be the nickelback in sub-packages. You still need to TRY to cover but in today’s game, you just cannot cover WRs for 4, 5, 6 seconds. About 31 of the 32 NFL franchises have a QB good enough to move the chains if he’s not pressured (sorry, Jacksonville).

Given the improvements within the division like Chicago suddenly having some talent at their non-backfield skill positions, Detroit’s draft adding help for their WRs and depth on the OL, and Minnesota’s consolidation-type draft which poises them to make moves next season, I say the Pack took….

…one step forward. Remember, they were eliminated from the playoffs in their first playoff game in 2011. Given their current talent level and adding almost exclusively to the softer side of their roster (defense) via the draft, they should improve their pass defense enough to make a difference. They still will have a ways to go before their defense is feared again, but they should regain some measure of respectability there.

Next up….the Houston Texans!