While Packers wide receiver Davante Adams has consistently made noise on the field with his play, it has been silence off the field. He has barely discussed not having a contract following the 2021 season, and Green Bay has not discussed it with him.
Sources say after the Packers and Adams broke off big-money extension talks in late July, there have been no talks whatsoever about a new deal. Adams hasn't brought it up. Neither has Green Bay.
All of which sets the stage for what several sources believe is an eventuality: The Packers give Adams the franchise tag following the season before attempting to work out a long-term deal. Based off Adams' current salary situation, the franchise tag is expected to be about $20 million.
Green Bay has a tight cap situation in 2022 and, as it stands now, would need to shed tens of millions of dollars just to get under the cap. However, based on Adams' importance to the team, the cap situation should not prevent the Packers from keeping him, sources say.
Adams has wanted to be the highest-paid WR in the NFL, hoping to eclipse DeAndre Hopkins' yearly salary based on new money of $27.25 million. Based on his statistics over the last several years, Adams has a real case to be the top-paid wideout.
It would be challenging, with Green Bay rarely offering multi-year full guarantees on extensions, likely necessitating a massive signing bonus to make the contract make sense. Challenging but not impossible.
Then, of course, there is the Aaron Rodgers situation. The Packers would likely solve Rodgers' situation first in the offseason, and Rodgers said he would come to a conclusion about his future quickly after 2021.
Adams was asked this week if Rodgers' future would affect him.
"Naturally," he told reporters. "Why wouldn't it? ... It won't be the be-all and end-all, but it'll definitely be something I'm monitoring."
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