There are few NFL rivalries as storied and intense as the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. These two NFC North foes have met up 125 times through the years, and the Packers have the edge historically, winning 65 of those battles compared to 57 for the Vikings (three games have ended in a tie). But sometimes the battle between the Vikings and Packers extends beyond the field and into NFL free agency.
As a matter of fact, a number of Packers players through the years have left Green Bay and signed with Minnesota, some of them seemingly to spite the Packers. And in a number of prominent cases, there's nothing "seemingly" about it. The spite is direct and deliberate.
What are some of the most famous cases in Packers history of players signing with the Vikings out of spite?
1. Greg Jennings, WR
Greg Jennings was an outstanding pickup for the Green Bay Packers as a second-round pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. He became a Pro Bowl receiver for the Packers and go-to threat in the passing game near the end of Brett Favre's time with the team and at the beginning of the Aaron Rodgers era.
Jennings was a key piece of Green Bay's offense in their Super Bowl run during the 2010 NFL season and had over 300 receiving yards in that particular playoff stretch. Jennings was an absolute star in Green Bay and played seven seasons as a Packer before being let go after the 2012 season. Upon leaving the Packers, Jennings went straight to Minnesota and began talking about how he was "brainwashed" by the Packers.
"Everything that you know in Green Bay is like 'the best, the best, the best, the best, the best', and it's like total brainwashing. I think you don't open your eyes to see what other teams have to offer unless you are in that position, and I was afforded this position."Greg Jennings in 2013 (via B/R)
Jennings spent two seasons with the Vikings and went 0-3-1 against the Packers. He caught just nine passes in four games against Green Bay as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. The revenge idea didn't exactly work out.
2. Brett Favre, QB
Brett Favre's exit from the NFL was drawn out and dramatic, but his exit from the Green Bay Packers was equal parts dramatic and messy. The Packers' decision to use a first-round pick on Aaron Rodgers in the 2005 NFL Draft obviously did not sit well with the former MVP, and Favre seemingly made it his personal mission to get to the Vikings.
But the Packers weren't going to make it easy for him.
Favre's exit from Green Bay didn't allow him any sort of instant gratification of going to Minnesota. He first had to take a detour to the New York Jets, which everyone knew was not where Favre wanted to be. The minute things ended with him and the Packers, everyone knew Favre would eventually wind up in Minnesota someway, somehow.
Favre even admitted later on that he wanted to play for "anyone that would play the Packers." It just so happened that playing for the Vikings gave him two opportunities a season to do that.
In four games for the Vikings, Favre was 2-2 against the Green Bay Packers with eight touchdowns and four interceptions. Seven of those eight touchdowns came in his two appearances against the Packers in the 2009 season, one of the best years of Favre's Hall of Fame career. Favre was playing like a man possessed that season at the age of 40, throwing 33 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
The Vikings got to experience a version of Favre that no one had really ever seen, even in Green Bay. Favre was always a playmaker at the QB position, but it came with a cost. The cost being interceptions. Favre's 33/7 TD/INT ratio back in that 2009 season was the best of his pro career, and the Vikings came within inches of making it to the Super Bowl that season.
And for Packers fans, it's a good thing they didn't have to watch Favre hoist the Lombardi for Minnesota. There may have been no coming back from that.
3. Za'Darius Smith, EDGE
Perhaps no one on this list was quite as upset with the Packers publicly as Za'Darius Smith.
The Packers acquired Smith via free agency after the Baltimore Ravens let him walk, and he was absolutely elite through his first two seasons with the Packers. Smith racked up 60 QB hits and 26 sacks in his first two years with Green Bay. He also added five forced fumbles and 76 total tackles.
He was an ascending player in Baltimore over his first four NFL seasons, but he became a Pro Bowl player and All-Pro in Green Bay. In his third season with the Packers, Smith was limited to an appearance in just one game and suffered a season-ending injury.
That season-ending injury was followed by Smith being released in the 2022 offseason, and he made it his mission to get to Minnesota. When he had the chance to talk about how things ended with Green Bay, it wasn't pretty...
"How I was [perceived] here in the building, I came down to here, to a nobody. To everybody in building. I was like, 'Damn, why am I being treated like this?' I brought the culture. I helped change this s--t. Why the f--k am I the one being treated like that?Za'Darius Smith told 'Go Long' in 2022
I put my all into it. That's why I felt the way I did with Green Bay—I gave that s--t my all. I put my blood, sweat … I put my back on the f--king line. I put everything. And that Year 3, I was treated bad. That's why I'm here now. So, I can play them twice a year."
Smith played just one season with the Vikings, but it was a productive one. He racked up 10 sacks and 24 QB hits in his lone year with Minnesota, and wound up having a sack and two QB hits in his matchups vs. Green Bay.
Now, Smith plays for the Cleveland Browns, so he's getting the chance to go against the first team that let him go -- the Baltimore Ravens. Though there doesn't seem to be nearly the same level of bad blood there as he had with the Packers.
4. Aaron Jones, RB
The Green Bay Packers made the slightly shocking decision near the beginning of 2024 NFL free agency to pursue All Pro running back Josh Jacobs. Jacobs, formerly of the Raiders, signed to a big-money deal in Green Bay to be their featured running back, which pushed incumbent big-money running back Aaron Jones right out the door.
Jones had a slightly disappointing year in 2023 due to injuries, but he finished the season so strong that many people felt like the Packers would have virtually no choice but to keep him around. Apparently, the Packers felt differently.
Jones was cut not long after the Jacobs signing, and it feels like no one had time to even blink before Jones signed a contract with the Minnesota Vikings. The fact that Jones signed with the Vikings for just $7 million when the Packers reportedly offered to keep him around for about $6 million tells us all we need to know.
He's going for revenge.
The speed with which Jones signed in Minnesota was impressive. This was a rich running back market, but both parties acted so quickly to get a deal done, you just can't help but feel like it was done out of spite. Now, Jones will get the chance to go up against Green Bay at least twice and show them what they're missing.