Greg Jennings said in an interview Tuesday on ESPN's "First Take" that he left the Green Bay Packers for the Minnesota Vikings because "it was time" and said he has much confidence in his new quarterback, Christian Ponder.
"You just know when it's time to move on," said Jennings, who spent seven seasons with the Packers. "In the biblical sense, seven years is the year of completion. Eight years is new beginnings."
Jennings, 29, signed a five-year contract worth a maximum of $47.5 million and $18 million guaranteed with Minnesota in March.
In addition to wanting to prove that he can be a star receiver without Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball, Jennings said he wanted to let the Packers' young receivers step into the limelight, which they began to do last season when he was limited to eight games with an abdominal injury.
"I'm not a selfish guy. It's not about me. It's more about giving guys an opportunity to do what they need to do," he said. "I had to remove myself from that situation to allow those guys to spread their wings."
In turn, Jennings said he has the utmost confidence in Ponder, who he believes will benefit greatly now that he has joined the Vikings' receiver corps.
"He's always been in a position to where the stress and the pressure was on him and he really didn't have the help around him to take that load off outside of All Day [Adrian Peterson]. That's it," Jennings said.
Jennings said he expects "nothing but greatness" from the Vikings. Minnesota finished second in the NFC North last season, beating the Packers in the regular-season finale to qualify for the postseason, but lost in the playoffs to Green Bay.
"When you see what they were able to do last year, with the guys they had on that team ... You saw a team that believed in one another, that felt like they could get it done, that were disappointed when they lost to us in that playoff game," he said.
Jennings said he sees the Vikings "have that hunger, have that desire" that was missing with the Packers last season.
"That same hunger, I'm not saying [the Packers] weren't hungry but the year we won it, you couldn't walk into that locker room and not say these guys are going to do something special," Jennings said.