As Expected, Packers Use Franchise Tag on Adams

Aaron Rodgers is back with the Green Bay Packers, and so too is All-Pro Davante Adams, the most prolific receiver in the NFL over the past several seasons.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Last season, Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams became the most prolific quarterback-receiver scoring duo in Green Bay Packers history.

It will be 68 touchdowns and counting when the 2022 NFL season kicks off. Not long after Aaron Rodgers announced through Pat McAfee that he was returning to the Packers, Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the team will use the franchise tag on Adams.

The transaction, confirmed by a source, ensures the two-time All-Pro receiver will not reach free agency.

Tagging Adams was a necessary evil from the team’s perspective, with Adams going on its bloated salary cap at a cost of $20.145 million. The actual franchise tag for a receiver is $18.149 million. However, players get the franchise tag or 120 percent of their salary cap number from the previous season, whichever figure is larger. Adams’ cap number from last season was almost $16.8 million.

Late last season, Adams bristled at the prospect of being tagged. So long as the end goal is to give him a contract commensurate with his performance, he’d probably be at least a little more welcoming. No doubt that is something Gutekunst and Adams discussed at the end of the season.

“It’s kind of a last-option type of thing,” Gutekunst said before the Combine. “And then even if we do have to use it, it’s more of a bridge to hopefully an extension down the road. We try to be respectful. I had a very good conversation with Tae before he left about all that stuff. He’s a unique player, unique person, and we’d certainly like to make him a long-term contract offer that works for both sides.”

Gutekunst’s history matches his “last option” words. From 2011 through 2021, the Packers were the only team in the league to not use the franchise tag. In 2010, then-general manager Ted Thompson placed the tag on defensive tackle Ryan Pickett as a way to buy time to sign him to a long-term deal. In 2008, Thompson tagged defensive tackle Corey Williams, then traded him to Cleveland.

Clearly, with Rodgers announcing his return to Green Bay via The Pat McAfee Show, the Packers’ plan is to use the tag as a way to buy time to work out an extension. That not only would ensure Adams remains in Green Bay for the long haul but it would greatly reduce Adams’ Year 1 cap charge – a critical element with the team starting the day about $26 million over the cap.

Getting there will not be easy after talks broke down last summer.

Three contracts have set the standard at the position. In terms of average pay, Arizona’s Hopkins’ two-year contract is worth $27.25 million. In terms of guaranteed money, Tennessee’s Jones’ three-year contract is worth $66 million and includes $64 million guaranteed. Jones is a distant second in average pay at $22 million. In terms of total dollars, Dallas’ Amari Cooper’s five-year contract is worth $100 million.

The Hopkins deal is the real challenge. Jones is a distant second with an average of $22 million per season. That’s a $5.25 million difference.

It's also worth noting – as the Packers have – that Adams will turn 30 on Christmas Eve.

“Obviously, we do a lot of studies on those metrics and different things,” Gutekunst said. “One of the things we look at specifically for guys who are Hall of Fame-caliber players, I think there’s a lot of production into their 30s. But, at the same time, it’s like anything, there’s risk either way.”

Based on his ridiculous resume from the past several seasons, Adams is worthy of being the top-paid receiver. Among receivers since the start of the 2016 season, he is No. 1 in the NFL with 581 receptions (31 more than Hopkins), No. 1 with 7,192 yards (144 more than Jones) and No. 1 with 69 touchdowns (nine more than Mike Evans).

For the third time in four years, Adams had more than 110 receptions and 10 touchdowns. In 2021, he set franchise records with 123 receptions for 1,553 yards (12.6 average). Eight of his 11 touchdowns came during the final seven games, when the offense really took off. According to Pro Football Focus, 91 receivers were targeted at least 49 times. Adams ranked 13th in catch rate, third in yards per route (2.92), 18th in drop rate (four drops; 3.1 percent) and 15th in passer rating (114.5).

Rodgers and Adams have connected for a team-record 68 touchdown passes. Last season, they eclipsed the Rodgers-to-Jordy Nelson record of 65.

Late in the season, Rodgers sent Adams a poignant message.

“When you start stacking up the numbers for Davante, it’s mind-blowing,” Rodgers said. “I really feel like he’s the best player I’ve played with, and I said that to him the other night, actually. I was just thinking about him and having a lot of gratitude for our friendship and the fact I get to play with him for so many years now. I just felt like I wanted to tell him that because it’s true.”

It was a touching gesture between two record-setting stars, the legendary quarterback and the legend-in-the-making receiver.

“For sure, man. It caught me off-guard when he texted me that the other day,” Adams said. “He texted me that before he said it; I think after the game was the first (time he said it publicly). But, yeah, it catches me off-guard a little bit just because I feel like what we don’t do enough as men in general is express the way we feel about one another or about the way he feels, whether it’s good or bad. So, to hear something like that out of the blue – there was no conversation that led up to it or anything like that, it was just strictly from his heart, something he was thinking about – it means a lot to me as a player.”