Packers & Davante Adams “Expected” to Work on “Massive” Extension

With Davante Adams in the final year of his current deal, for much of the offseason, it was assumed that he and the Green Bay Packers would eventually work out an extension. However, with everyone’s focus these past few months on the Aaron Rodgers’ saga, up until recently, we really haven’t heard much about any extension.

Now, that of course doesn’t mean that discussions weren’t happening behind the scenes — they certainly were — and as Brian Gutekunst has told us in the past, deals of this magnitude take some time.

Last week we heard from Davante Adams himself that the two sides were in the “beginning stages” of contract extension talks. But according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, it would appear that things have accelerated past the beginning stages:

"“Davante Adams and the Packers are expected to try to come to an agreement on a massive contract extension. He will likely be the highest-paid receiver in the league at some point. Most evaluators I talk to believe he is the very best at that position right now. So, he’s a priority for the Packers, whether Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback or Jordan Love.“"

In terms of average annual value, Arizona’s De’Andre Hopkins is the highest-paid receiver in football at the moment, making on average $27.3 million per year. Adams, on the other hand, is making just $14.5 million per year after signing a four-year – $58 million deal prior to the 2018 season.

As Fowler notes, Adams has become what many would consider the best receiver in football. He’s coming off a 2020 season where he led the league in touchdowns with 18 as well as yards per game with 98.1 and totaled 1,374 yards while missing two games.

From a salary cap standpoint, Adams comes with a $16.7 million cap hit in 2021. An extension would likely lower that figure substantially as it would allow Green Bay to push some of those cap charges to future years via a large signing bonus.

However, 2022 is shaping up to be very similar to 2021 from a salary cap standpoint for the Packers. So some additional financial gymnastics will have to take place to fit another big contract on the books. This could come via additional extensions for players like Za’Darius Smith, Jaire Alexander or Adrian Amos, as well as by making some veteran cuts next offseason.

I imagine that we will likely see the largest cap hits from an Adams’ extension occur in 2023 and beyond when the NFL’s new TV deal kicks in, and the salary cap is expected to take a big jump.

There was also one other important note that Fowler made, and it’s something that we’ve heard the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport say in the past, which is that this situation with Rodgers is likely holding up the Adams’ deal. Depending on how things play out with the reigning MVP, the salary cap, both now and in the future, is likely to be affected:

"“The problem is Rodgers’ contract has been an albatross for that team, it’s hindered them from doing some other contracts and things they want to do with the team-building standpoint. So, they’ve got to shake that out first. They’re willing to give Rodgers probably whatever he wants right now.”"

Although Adams recently commented about playing with his former college quarterback Derek Carr, it would appear that an extension between Davante and the Packers is in the works and will get done at some point. And that is some good news that us Packer fans needed.

Quotes from Jeremy Fowler via Bleacher Report