Davante Adams Tells Packers He Won’t Play On Franchise Tag

According to Ian Rapoport, Packers WR Davante Adams has told the team he will not play in 2022 on the franchise tag without a long-term deal.

Tom Pelissero adds the Packers have closed the gap that was there since negotiations broke off last season but there are still fundamental differences between the two in the structure and length. 

Adams and Green Bay are both on the same page that he deserves to be the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver but there is a difference in how the two sides are defining it. 

Prior reports have said Adams points to the two-year, $54 million deal Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins signed with three years left on his deal, while the Packers think the three-year, $66 million extension the Falcons gave WR Julio Jones with two years left is a better template. 

The tag for Adams is $20.2 million fully guaranteed and the two sides have until July 15 to negotiate an extension, otherwise NFL rules mandate Adams play out the 2022 season on the tag. 

Until Adams signs the tender, he is not technically under contract, meaning he can skip OTAs, training camp, everything up until Week 1 basically. He doesn’t lose any money until he starts missing games. 

Adams, 29, is a former second-round pick out of Fresno State by the Packers in the 2014 NFL Draft. He was in the final year of a four-year, $3.933 million rookie contract when the Packers signed him to a four-year extension worth $58 million.

Adams made a base salary of $12 million for the 2021 season and was set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2022 when the Packers used the franchise tag on him at a figure of $20.2 million. 

In 2021, Adams appeared in 16 games for the Packers and caught 123 of 169 targets for 1,553 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns.

We’ll have more on Adams as the news is available.