The Green Bay Packers are open to all potential options and outcomes when it comes to the future of soon-to-be free agent receiver Davante Adams.
General manager Brian Gutekunst said Wednesday that the team would prefer to get a long-term extension done with the back-to-back first-time All-Pro receiver, but the franchise tag is another option, and he wouldn’t dismiss the possibility of letting Adams leave in free agency.
“A lot of things to be determined there,” Gutekunst said. “Everything is open at this point.”
The Packers have only three weeks to get a new deal done with Adams before the start of the new league year on March 16. The team must decide on the franchise tag by March 8.
Historically, the Packers have rarely used the franchise tag. Gutekunst has never used it since becoming the general manager. In fact, the team hasn’t used the tag since 2010.
“It’s not something we like to do,” Gutekunst said. “We’d certainly like to come up with a long-term deal that works for both sides.”
Using the tag in this situation would keep Adams out of free agency and extend the negotiation window on a new deal into July, but it would immediately cost the Packers a little over $20 million on the salary cap.
Gutekunst referred to the tag as a last-resort option.
“It’s a tool that’s made available to us, and if we need to use it we certainly will. We’d love to come to an agreement before that. But it’ is a tool to be able to protect one of your star players. At the same time, we like to exhaust all options before we get to that point.”
Complicating the situation: the team entered the offseason needing to shed around $50 million on salary cap space, and the team doesn’t know the future of Aaron Rodgers.
Without clarity on Rodgers’ future, the Packers are in waiting mode. But Rodgers might be waiting until he has more clarity on Adams’ future in Green Bay.
Gutekunst said he didn’t feel any pressure to get something done with Adams in terms of influencing Rodgers to return.
Can the two sides find a compromise on a new deal?
Adams, 29, likely wants to become the highest-paid receiver in the NFL on a per-year basis after an incredible two-year stretch in which he caught 29 touchdown passes and set new team records for receptions and receiving yards in a single season.
As it stands now, DeAndre Hopkins leads all receivers at $27.5 million per year in new money on his extension with the Arizona Cardinals. Dating back to last summer, the Packers have been hesitant to recognize Hopkins’ outlier contract in negotiations with Adams.
Gutekunst called Adams an “elite player.”
If the Packers let Adams reach free agency and he signed elsewhere, the team would get nothing more back than a third-round compensatory draft pick in 2023.
The Packers see Adams as a potential future Hall of Famer, providing confidence that he’ll continue creating value on a third contract reaching into his 30s in Green Bay.
