There was some Super Bowl ring trash-talking recently in the Vikings’ locker room.
Defensive tackle Linval Joseph, who played for the New York Giants when they won it all after the 2011 season, bragged to wide receiver Greg Jennings, who won the year before with Green Bay, that his ring was more gaudy.
“He was saying, ‘Ours is bigger than yours,’ ” Jennings said. “They get bigger and bigger and bigger every year. He showed it to me on his phone. I had to concede it’s pretty much bigger. I had to struggle with that, because they beat us to get it.”
The Giants that season defeated the Packers 37-20 in an NFC divisional playoff game. At least Vikings defensive end Justin Trattou, who also was on that Giants team, hasn’t talked trash to Jennings about a ring that is the width of two regular-sized fingers and encrusted with diamonds.
There are four Minnesota players who have won Super Bowl rings in their careers, the other being guard Charlie Johnson, who was with Indianapolis when the Colts won during his rookie year of 2006.
Five Vikings coaches who have won a total of nine rings, all as assistants. That includes the father-son combo of head coach Mike Zimmer, who won with Dallas in the 1995 season, and linebackers coach Adam Zimmer, who got his with New Orleans in 2009.
Offensive line coach Jeff Davidson won with New England in 2001, 2003 and 2004, offensive coordinator Norv Turner won with Dallas in 1992 and 1993, and running backs coach Kirby Wilson won with Tampa Bay in 2002 and Pittsburgh in 2008.
None of them, though, wear their rings much in Minnesota, which never has had a Super Bowl winner. It could be odd showing off a ring won with another team.
“I don’t really want to see Jennings’,” said Vikings tackle Phil Loadholt.
Jennings won his with Minnesota’s bitter rivals, who beat Loadholt’s Vikings twice in 2010. Jennings, who joined the Vikings last year, will face his former team for the fourth time when the Packers visit TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday.
“It’s something that I accomplished with a great group of guys,” said Jennings, who caught four passes for 64 yards and scored two touchdowns in Green Bay’s 31-25 win over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV. “You talk to guys who have won it, and the common denominator is a sense of a feeling of accomplishing something special together.”
Jennings doesn’t wear his ring much. It has “World Champions,” his name and a big “G” inscribed on it.
“I’m not a big jewelry guy,” Jennings said. “I mean, it’s something that I can show my kids (he has four) and hopefully my grandkids. It’s not something that I go out and wear every day, because that’s just me.”
Jennings said his ring is safely stowed away in his native Michigan, but he has no other specifics to offer. Those with Super Bowl rings don’t like to give too much information for safety reasons.
Mike Vrabel, a linebacker on New England teams that won three Super Bowls from 2002-05, recently tweeted that all three of his rings had been stolen. With that in mind, Joseph won’t even say in what state his ring now sits.
Among those on the Vikings with Super Bowl rings, the Zimmers might be the only two who have them in Minnesota. The head coach said he wears his occasionally, including at the press conference in January to announce his hiring.
The diamond, personally inscribed rings are valuable. Adam Zimmer says his cost about $15,000 to make and it’s been appraised for between $25,000 and $30,000. Yes, it’s insured.
Johnson keeps his ring in a lockbox. He doesn’t wear it much but does plan to on Feb. 1, 2015.
“I’ll bring it out typically on a Super Bowl Sunday every year, just kind of as a reminder,” said Johnson, whose Colts beat Chicago 29-17 in Super Bowl XLI. “I’ll just wear it around the house. Other than that, maybe if I go to a school I might take it and show kids because kids kind of like that stuff, and maybe at certain charity events to show people because they get a kick out of seeing stuff like that.”
Johnson did bring his ring into the locker room shortly after joining the Vikings in 2011. It was at the request of Loadholt, who never before had seen a Super Bowl ring and closely checked out the one with a Colts horseshoe surrounding the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
“I was intrigued,” Loadholt said. “It was like show and tell. My eyes lit up. Just seeing a Super Bowl ring, it was pretty special. That’s all of our goals, obviously.”
During the offseason, Joseph wears his in public at times. The ring, which displays the four Super Bowl trophies the Giants have won, gets noticed.
“People will say, ‘Wow, what is that? Where did you get that ring from?’ ” Joseph said. “If I need it for something special or important, I’ll put it on. But mostly I’ll leave it in a safe place.”
Joseph started in the Giants’ 21-17 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. Trattou wasn’t active for any games during the playoffs during his rookie season, but that hasn’t kept him from getting the most out of his ring.
“It’s definitely an attention-drawer,” said Trattou, who keeps his ring at home in New Jersey. “I wore it a lot more when I first got it. If you’re going to a nice restaurant and want to be a little bit flashy, you can wear it. I will say I got one nice steak dinner in New York City for free. It wasn’t long after we won it, and they just put it on the house for us.”
Joseph doesn’t claim to have gotten anything free because of his ring. He said simply looking at it makes him happy.
“I’m honored to have it,” Joseph said. “For the rest of my life, it’s mine. Nobody can take it away from me.”
Well, one supposes someone literally could. That’s why Joseph is so secret about his ring’s location.
Vikings tight end Rhett Ellison knows about Super Bowl ring theft. His father, Riki Ellison, won three as a linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers during the 1980s.
When Ellison was about 6 and living in his father’s native New Zealand, he would take the rings to school for show and tell, although he said the locals didn’t know much about the Super Bowl. Around that time, Ellison said his father’s first ring, from Super Bowl XIX after the 1984 season, disappeared.
“He got it stolen when we lived there, and he got a replacement,” Ellison said. “A couple of years ago, someone was trying to sell it on Craigslist and someone called my dad to make sure it was authenticated, and then he got it back from the guy who stole it. It was gone for more than 10 years. Since he had already gotten a replacement, I guess he has four Super Bowl rings now.”
Ellison said his father carries his rings with him wherever he goes. Riki Ellison was in the parking lot after Minnesota’s 41-28 win over Atlanta in September when Loadholt saw him wearing one and came over to admire it.
“It really caught my eye,” Loadholt said.
Loadholt has no problem with San Francisco and Indianapolis Super Bowl rings. It might just be Green Bay ones he doesn’t want to see.
Follow Chris Tomasson at twitter.com/christomasson.
SUPER MEN
The four players and five coaches on the Vikings who have won a combined total of 13 Super Bowl rings:
PLAYERS
Name Pos. Super Bowl winner Season
Greg Jennings WR Green Bay 2010
Charlie Johnson G Indianapolis 2006
Linval Joseph DT New York Giants 2011
Justin Trattou DE New York Giants 2011
COACHES
Name Pos. Super Bowl winner(s) Season(s) Pos. then
Mike Zimmer Head coach Dallas 1995 Defensive backs
Norv Turner Offensive coordinator Dallas 1992, ’93 Offensive coordinator
Jeff Davidson Offensive line New England 2001, ’03, ’04 Offensive line
Kirby Wilson Running backs Tampa Bay 2002, Pittsburgh 2008 Running backs
Adam Zimmer Linebackers New Orleans 2009 Assistant DBs
