Packers can franchise tag Davante Adams before clearing cap space

The Green Bay Packers have a major conundrum on their hands when it comes to wide receiver Davante Adams. To franchise tag or not to franchise tag? That is the question.

The Packers have until today, March 8th, to make a decision about whether they will apply the franchise tag to Adams. However, they can do so without clearing the necessary cap space.

If you count the exclusive and restricted free agents, Green Bay is still about $31 million over the 2022 salary cap. And that doesn’t count for a potential Adam’s tag which would come in at around $20.12 million. The good news is they still have more time to clear space if that is the route they want to go.

Contrary to popular belief, the Green Bay Packers can franchise tag wide receiver Davante Adams before they clear the requisite cap space.

The Packers have been working diligently this offseason to cut money from their salary cap including restructuring Kenny Clark’s (saving $10.89 million), Aaron Jones’ ($3.05 million) and David Bakhtiari’s ($9.26 million) contracts. That has cut about $23 million off their cap, but they still have a lot of work to do.

There are a number of players they could extend (Jaire Alexander, Preston Smith) or cut (Za’Darius Smith, Mason Crosby, Marcedes Lewis) that would help significantly. They have until March 16th at 3pm central to be under the 2022 salary cap. That March 16th date also includes any other money they add on to their cap like an Adam’s tag.

TLDR: Green Bay can tag Adams by the deadline on March 8th and not have to be in legal standing with the 2022 cap until March 16th.

However, tagging Adams will come with other risks that are outside of the financial realm. The star wide receiver will likely not be happy with a one-year deal entering his age 30 season and will be seeking a monster, long-term deal this offseason. That would buy the two sides some time to come to an agreement, but nothing is assured.

Adams could hold out all offseason, training camp, and preseason while holding $20 million worth of valuable cap space hostage. If he doesn’t agree to the deal, he wouldn’t be under contract and couldn’t be fined or punished until Week 1. That could throw off the Packers’ entire offseason mojo for a second season in a row.

We will find out very soon what the Packers will do with Adams, but don’t be surprised to see them tag him, if for no other reason than to buy themself another week. Stay tuned!