Green Bay Packers: What Could a Davante Adams Extension Look Like?

One move that seemed to be a slam dunk this offseason was an extension for Davante Adams, who is entering the final year of his current deal with the Green Bay Packers. Not only would it keep Adams in Green Bay for the foreseeable future, but it would lower his $16.7 million cap hit this season as well—creating some much-needed cap relief for the Packers.

But as we all know, that is yet to take place. Recently, Ian Rapoport told Peter Bukowski on Locked on Packers that he believes the uncertainty around Aaron Rodgers’ future is “holding up all business.” We also know that extensions of this magnitude take some time, as GM Brian Gutekunst has told us previously.

While we don’t know when — or I guess if, although I still expect it to — an extension will take place, we do have an idea of what it could look like, thanks to our friends over at Spotrac.

Without getting too far into the weeds, to determine the length of the deal and the amount of money, Spotrac has their own formula to determine “Market Value,” which takes into account the player’s age as well as their production over the previous two seasons. They then look at the contracts of players who are of a similar ilk in terms of age and production. In Adams’ case, those players are DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Keenan Allen, and Amari Cooper.

There’s much more to it than that, but when it’s all said and done, and the numbers are crunched, Spotrac projects that Adams’ next contract will be for five years – $124.89 million, or an average annual value (AAV) of $24.9 million. By AAV, this would take Adams from being the 18th highest-paid wide receiver in football, and wildly underpaid, to the second-highest-paid behind only Hopkins.

For a Green Bay Packers team that will once again be tight up against the salary cap in 2022 — they are currently projected to be $33.7 million over next season, according to Over the Cap — the structure of the deal will be crucial and likely will carry larger cap hits in 2023 and beyond when the new TV deal is going to kick in, and the cap is expected to rise significantly.

For some context, Julio Jones’ deal, which is slightly less by AAV, came with cap hits of $20.4 million and $15.3 million in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Undoubtedly there will once again be restructures, veteran cuts, and possible pay cuts next offseason as the Packers maneuver their way out of the red and into the green.

Given Green Bay’s cap situation, an extension for Adams will require some more financial creativity from Gutey and Russ Ball — the Packers VP and director of football operations — as they add another monster deal to the books. The 2022 salary cap is projected to be just over $208 million, but at the moment, the Packers’ eight largest cap hits next year account for $160 million of that cap space—and this does not include whatever Adams potentially receives.

Now, as I’ve already mentioned, there are cap saving moves that can and will be made, but you understand where I’m going with this, Green Bay already has a very top heavy roster in terms of contract value.

Adams is considered by many the best receiver in football and is coming off a 2020 season in which he tallied nearly 1,400 receiving yards and led the league with 18 touchdowns, despite missing two games. Whatever his deal with the Green Bay Packers ends up looking like, we know it’ll be well deserved.