Green Bay Packers: Davante Adams Won’t Holdout, Will be at Training Camp

By missing the on-the-field portion of OTAs, Green Bay Packers star wide receiver Davante Adams forfeited the opportunity to claim his $500,000 workout bonus. Although he is in attendance at mandatory mini-camp, which is currently taking place, it was valid to wonder whether or not he would be at training camp at the end of July. And no, this has nothing to do with Aaron Rodgers.

As we all know, Adams is in the final year of his contract, so his possible absence from training camp would have signaled the beginning of a holdout until he received a new contract. Adams is coming off a 2020 season in which he recorded 1,374 receiving yards at a catch rate of 77 percent and led the league in touchdown receptions with 18 and yards per game with 98.1. In recent years he has established himself as one of, if not the best receiver in the game.

However, Adams’ contract doesn’t reflect that. According to Spotrac, he is the 18th highest-paid wide receiver at the moment by average annual value. So it would be completely justifiable if Adams chose to miss training camp until he received his new deal as a way to avoid sustaining an injury in a contract year. But that won’t be the case.

When meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Aaron Nagler of Cheesehead TV got right to the point and asked Adams if he planned to holdout at all until he received a new contract. Adams was adamant that that wouldn’t be the case.

"“Yeah, I’ll be here. I’ll be here. I signed up to go to work and play,” Adams said Tuesday via Packers Wire. “I’m from East Palo Alto, California. I grew up with zero dollars. I’m not forfeiting any of my money that I’ve earned and signed for already. I’ll be there for sure.”"

The forfeiting of money that Adams was referring to are the fines that come with not attending training camp. It’s written in the CBA that players will be fined $50,000 for every day missed, and unlike in years past, the team can’t waive those fines once things between the two parties are resolved. So you can imagine how quickly that would add up for Adams.

This is obviously good news for the Green Bay Packers as they continue to work their way through this Aaron Rodgers ordeal, and having Adams present at training camp is one less thing they have to worry about.

So now that we heard from the man himself that he will be in attendance, the next question I have is, when will Adams receive his extension?

This was a move that seemed like a slam dunk at one point this offseason as an extension would not only keep one of the league’s top receivers in Green Bay beyond 2021, but with Adams carrying a $16.7 million cap hit this season, it would also provide some much-needed cap relief as well.

As GM Brian Gutekunst has told us in the past, these big-money extensions take time. We knew that the Green Bay Packers and Kenny Clark were working on a deal behind the scenes as early as January of 2020, but the contract wasn’t agreed upon until August of that same year. We also learned from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, who appeared on Locked on Packers with Peter Bukowski, that not knowing what is going to happen with Rodgers is holding up an Adams’ extension.

"“I don’t get the sense that anyone is going to do anything until Rodgers gets settled. Why would you? For better or worse, he’s holding up all business. I don’t know that it even matters that much, if your Davante Adams, I would imagine at some point he’ll get an extension anyways, so the timing is sort of just about timing, but it’s hard to conduct any business not knowing how the Rodgers’ situation is going to unfold.”"

So just as we’ve been doing with Rodgers, we will continue playing the waiting game with Adams, the Green Bay Packers, and his possible extension, which as Rapoport mentions, he imagines should take place at some point; we just don’t know when given what else is taking place at 1265 Lombardi Avenue. But some good news, Adams will be at training camp, which also means more opportunities for he and Jordan Love to work together and build that chemistry.