Packers Learn Cost of Franchise Tag, Fifth-Year Option

The salary cap is officially $208.2 million, meaning there are firm numbers to tag Davante Adams and trigger fifth-year options on Rashan Gary and Darnell Savage.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The NFL officially set the salary cap for the 2022 season at $208.2 million – exactly as forecast – and established the cost of using the franchise tag.

Assuming the Packers use the tag on Davante Adams before Tuesday’s deadline, the cost will be a guaranteed $20.145 million. The actual franchise tag 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.

The league also announced the cost of exercising the fifth-year option on the players selected in the first round in 2019. The Packers had two first-round selections that year, outside linebacker Rashan Gary and safety Darnell Savage. Using the option on Gary, a first-time starter in 2021, would cost $10.892 million. Using the option on Savage, a three-year starter, would cost $7.901 million.

Teams have until May 2 to use the option. If triggered, those players would play under a fully guaranteed contract in 2023. If not triggered, those players would become unrestricted free agents after the 2022 season.

Speaking before the Scouting Combine, general manager Brian Gutekunst said he hadn’t decided what the team will do with those key contributors.

The deadline to tag the All-Pro Adams is 3 p.m. Tuesday. If the Packers don’t use it, he’d be an unrestricted free agent when the league-year starts on March 16.

“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.”

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. So long as Aaron Rodgers returns, that would be the team’s intention if it tags Adams. In 2008, Thompson tagged defensive tackle Corey Williams, then traded him to Cleveland. If Rodgers decides not to return, that could be the intention if it tags Adams.

Only three players have been tagged as of 5 p.m. Monday: offensive tackle Orlando Brown by the Chiefs, tight end David Njoku by the Browns and safety Jessie Bates by the Bengals.