Davante Adams has been the best wide receiver in the NFL for the last two years. He has two consecutive selections to the first-team All-Pro and five in a row for the Pro Bowl. Adams had 238 receptions, 2,927 yards, and 29 touchdowns between 2020 and 2021, helping the Green Bay Packers to have the best offense in EPA/play in each of those seasons.
But his second professional contract is up, he is 29 years old, and the Packers are at a crossroads. Because of these factors, it’s not certain Adams will be back in 2022. The Packers have four realistic contractual options with him.
Franchise tag
The franchise tag is a tool for teams to keep their best free agents, precisely the scenario with the Packers and Adams. If they don’t agree to a long-term extension through March 8, Green Bay can franchise him and basically guarantee that he will play another year for them.
The price of the franchise tag is the average of the five highest-paid players of the position for the previous five seasons, or 120% of the players’ previous salary, whichever is greater. In Adams’ case, the second option applies, as he already is one the highest-paid wide receivers in football.
Therefore, his price tag would be $20.1 million in 2022, and the entirety of the value would hit the 2022 salary cap.
- If it’s a non-exclusive franchise tag, another team would still have the opportunity to offer Adams a contract. This is the most likely scenario.
- If he signs an offer sheet, Green Bay would have five days to match the offer or let him leave and receive two first-round picks as compensation.
- And if it’s an exclusive franchise tag, it could be a little more expensive. The price will be determined by eventual new contracts of the current season, but Adams wouldn’t have the right to negotiate with any other franchise.
Tag-and-trade
If the Packers decide to rebuild and go in another direction, they still can tag Adams to explore trade options. In this scenario, they would keep the $20.1 million cap hit when they apply the tag through the trade official execution. That’s an important factor, considering the Packers are still $44 million over the 2022 salary cap projection.
But it’s a possible option if they have a sense the market will reward them with something higher than the compensatory pick. Green Bay would receive a higher pick (a first or a second, for it to make sense), and in 2022, not 2023.
Adams would have to agree with this proposition. A player needs to sign the franchise tag for the trade to be legal, and the new team should extend the player after the trade. It’s not an easy machination, but it’s possible when it involves such a high-profile player.
Extension
If the Packers want to keep Adams, the third and most likely scenario is to give him a third contract. His second one was a four-year extension signed in 2017. There were reported talks between the parties, but they haven’t gotten to the finish line. Adams wants to be the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL on average per year, but the Packers don’t see DeAndre Hopkins’ extension with the Arizona Cardinals as a fair comparison point.
Nuke extended with the Cards with a $27.25 million yearly average, but he had no signing bonus left on his previous contract, which the Cardinals bought from the Houston Texans, and there were two years left on the original deal.
So although Hopkins has an official $27.25 million average in new money, the real average in cap hit for the Cardinals is only $18.8 million. The second-highest-paid wide receiver in annual average is Julio Jones, with a $22 million number.
That’s the contract on which the Packers want to base their negotiations. Technically, the good part about extending Adams is the Packers can structure it however they want, probably backloading it to keep the 2022 cap hit as low as possible.
There is a scenario that can blend Options 2 and 4. They could use the franchise tag as a tool to have exclusive rights and achieve a long-term extension later. The deadline to do that is July, but the Packers would have the full cap hit until they agree to an extension.
Let him walk
The last option is to move on from Adams. In this case, Green Bay wouldn’t achieve a long-term extension or apply the tag, making Adams an unrestricted free agent in March. He’d be available to sign with any team. The Packers most certainly would receive a third-round compensatory selection in 2023 unless they sign another big-time free agent, which is not likely.
