News broke on Tuesday afternoon that the captain of the Green Bay Packers’ defensive identity, Za’Darius Smith, was signing a contract with the Minnesota Vikings. The move came as a bit of a shocker. Smith reportedly was going to sign with his former club, the Baltimore Ravens, but he reneged on that deal to get more money with the Packers’ division rival.
You can’t fault the guy for chasing the money, but seeing him in purple next season will hurt. One of the first pieces I wrote for Zone Coverage (about a year ago today) was about ZD’s impact on the Packers and how it went far beyond heightened statistics. Smith brought a renewed culture of intensity and pride to the secondary. Even though this unit performed well in his absence last season, Green Bay will miss his leadership and heart.
Not lost on the notion of his departure is that little fact that Smith chose to go to Minnesota. The Vikings have had a speculative offseason in some regards, but inking ZD and not trading outside rusher Danielle Hunter ensures that the Vikes’ pass rush will be formidable.
However, Smith joins a long list of players that have traversed the Packers-to-Vikings pipeline. Specifically, ZD is following in the footsteps of a few players who have played well for Green Bay, gotten injured, and then have tried to resume their careers with Minnesota. Too often, we have seen notable Green Bay players play respectable tenures in green and gold, only to leave and eventually crawl their way back to Minnesota in their attempts at revenge. Sometimes, these returns to the Midwest have worked. Other times, they have not.
In the spirit of this trend, I decided to look at some of the most recent and notable players who crossed the St. Croix while recovering from injury. While a few have had successful tenures in Minnesota, most of these players flamed out after a season or two and became journeymen. It remains to be seen whether or not Smith will buck this trend.
Brandon Bostick [bad]
The Vikings’ decision to sign Brandon Bostick remains an objectively hilarious move, even if he didn’t play a single snap in purple.
You’re forgiven for not remembering him. If you don’t, you probably sleep better at night anyway. Bostick is the guy who dropped the ball in what became an agonizing playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
It was a move by former GM Rick Spielman that cannot be seen as anything other than spiteful. The Packers cut Bostick immediately after that playoff loss. The Vikings claimed him off waivers three days later. Bostick would spend the entire offseason in Minnesota before the franchise eventually realized that he wasn’t any good after all.
Desmond Bishop [hamstring]
Desmond Bishop used to be one of my favorite players of all time. When I was in high school, I had a custom-made shirt that said on the front, “A man once gave Desmond Bishop the finger…”, and then on the back, below a picture of Bishop, it read, “…he still has that finger.” I was a dork.
Regardless, Bishop was truly one of the single most integral pieces of that two-year run of Packers dominance from 2010-11. The sixth-round pick did next to nothing in his first three years in the league, but in 2010 he started 12 games and had over 100 combined tackles en route to a Super Bowl victory. In the following season, Bishop had 90 solo tackles in 13 games before eventually hurting his hamstring in the offseason.
After that season, Bishop was cut by the Packers. Unswayed by his injury history, the Vikings signed Bishop ahead of the 2013 season. Bishop only played in four games for Minnesota before once again being placed on IR. He would only have two more tackles in his career in one season with the San Francisco 49ers.
Greg Jennings [leg/groin]
Before he devolved into public enemy No. 1 for the Packers, Greg Jennings was a consistent and prolific weapon for Aaron Rodgers alongside Jordy Nelson. His reliability was unmatched, and he could play anywhere on the field.
While Jennings could survive his broken leg, he could not overcome a nagging groin injury that caused him to miss time in the 2012 season. After playing only eight games, Jennings was let go and signed a 5-year, $47 million contract with Minnesota. Regardless of the subpar quarterback play from the Vikings those years, Jennings showed an evident statistical decline in the two seasons he wound up playing there. It was apparent that he had lost a step. The Vikings cut him in 2015, and he only played one more disappointing season with the Miami Dolphins before retiring.
With Za’Darius Smith coming off a back injury that cost him essentially the entire 2021 season, the Vikings are taking a gamble on whether or not he will be effective and durable for the entirety of his contract. It is no question that he is a great player, although his injury history means his arrival comes with some trepidation. The move may well be worth the risk, but the track record of Packers players going to Minnesota suggests that things might not go as planned.
