Packer Central

Jennings, Harris Will Be Inducted in Packers Hall of Fame After Rocky Endings

Greg Jennings and Tim Harris will be inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame on Sept. 1.

Bill Huber

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Greg Jennings and Tim Harris were two of the top players during two of the Green Bay Packers’ magical seasons.

During the “Cardiac Pack” season of 1989, Green Bay went from consecutive seasons of four, five and four wins to 10-6 and just missing out on the playoffs. Harris had a big hand in that with 19.5 sacks to earn Pro Bowl honors.

In 2010, Greg Jennings earned his first Pro Bowl honors with 76 receptions for 1,365 yards and 12 touchdowns. In the Super Bowl victory over Pittsburgh, he scored two touchdowns and gained 31 yards on a critical third-and-10 play late in the game to help clinch the championship.

On Tuesday, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame announced Harris and Jennings would form its Class of 2022. They will be inducted on Sept. 1.

A fourth-round pick in 1986, Harris played five seasons for Green Bay. Propelled by his 13.5 sacks in 1988 and his franchise-record total in 1989, Harris recorded 55 career sacks – fourth-most in team history. He celebrated his sacks with a “six-shooter” celebration that the NFL eventually banned.

“At practice I was bored one day and just decided to shoot my guns," Harris said several years ago. "Back then you could celebrate a little bit after a sack — just wanted to have a little fun with it.”

With his 1991 holdout lingering deep into September, the Packers traded Harris to San Francisco. In 10 career seasons, which included a 17-sack campaign for the 49ers in 1992, he tallied 81 sacks.

A second-round pick in 2006, Jennings caught 425 passes for 6,537 yards and 53 touchdowns in seven seasons with the Packers. He topped 1,100 yards in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He earned Pro Bowl honors in 2010 (76 receptions, 1,265 yards, 12 touchdowns) and 2011 (67 receptions, 949 yards, nine touchdowns). Jennings ranks ninth in receptions, eighth in receiving yards and sixth in receiving touchdowns in franchise history.

After seven seasons in Green Bay, including an injury-plagued 2012, he signed a five-year deal with rival Minnesota in free agency in 2013.

“When I came over here, I was kind of brainwashed. There's no ‘kind of’ to it,” Jennings said in 2013. “Being in Green Bay, you're brainwashed to think anyone in the division is tiers below. And so coming over here, I meet the people within the organization, and I'm like, ‘Wow, these are really great people.’

“It's like everything that you know in Green Bay is the best, the best, the best, the best. And it's like total brainwashing. And I think you don't open your eyes to see what other teams have to offer unless you are in that position.”

In 10 career seasons, which included two years with the Vikings, Jennings finished with 571 receptions for 8,291 yards and 64 touchdowns.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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