As if to avoid some kind of proximity mine of scrutiny, the leaking of Green Bay’s stunning Davante Adams trade to Las Vegas came with the footnote that Aaron Rodgers was aware of the deal, which is the kind of seat at the table he jockeyed for during last offseason’s extended holdout.
Adams was reportedly offered the same money on a long-term contract extension in Green Bay that he was in Las Vegas, though without a microscope being held over the tiny print, there is no way we can verify the Packers aren’t having themselves a public relations spin art party. The Raiders paid a first-and second-round pick for the privilege of Adams’ services. It is clear they wanted him badly, while the Packers seemed to want him badly at the correct price and structure.
While this doesn’t directly reflect on Rodgers—please don’t read this as us suggesting Adams would prefer to play with Derek Carr—it does rise to the level of Rodgers’s problem now. And that’s an interesting place for Rodgers and the Packers to be. Green Bay’s receiver depth chart has been decimated and most of its best options in free agency have signed elsewhere. While there are likely a dozen veteran options who could be jarred loose via trade before the draft or—gasp—a wide receiver in the first round that the Packers could select, there is almost no way they enter into the 2022 season better at the position than how they left 2021.
