The Green Bay Packers traded disgruntled star wide receiver Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders for their first-and-second-round picks in April’s 2022 we NFL draft. Adams immediately agreed to the long-term extension he was seeking with the Packers.
The former Fresno State Bulldog signed a five-year and $141.25 million deal, putting his average annual value at ($28.25 million), making him the highest-paid pass catcher in the NFL, surpassing DeAndre Hopkins ($27.25M) and seven-time Pro Bowl player Julio Jones ($22M).
The deal comes on the heels of Adams telling the team he wouldn’t play under the franchise tag placed on him last week.
“If you’re Oakland Raiders HC Josh McDaniels, you’ve got to be ecstatic right now,” said NFL analyst Booger McFarland on “SportCenter” with Stan Verrett a few hours after the deal was announced.
“If you look at the Raiders offense, we knew about Darren Waller, we knew about Hunter Renfrow in the slot, but now you add the best receiver in the game. You go with a power back in Josh Jacobs and you have a [QB in Derek Carr] who can deliver the ball. I would say the pressure is on Josh McDaniels. You have all the weapons and a veteran quarterback, everything you need.”
Now, the stakes are even higher in the AFC West, which is loaded after the flurry of offseason moves.
It looked like Adams might be sticking around in Green Bay when the franchise released linebacker Za’Darius Smith and his $27.6 million cap hit, but ultimately the two sides were far apart on the terms needed to secure Aaron Rodgers’ favorite target. When Rodgers signed his mammoth deal, the probability of signing Adams dwindled considerably. The star has a thirst to be the highest-paid receiver in the game.
Aaron Rodgers Gets Huge Deal: Makes It Nearly Impossible To Keep Adams
The Packers and Rodgers agreed to a deal that will pay the quarterback $150 million over the first three seasons, that’s a whopping $50 million per season, which for all intents and purposes threw things into a tizzy for a team already $40 million over the salary cap.
Had Rodgers been willing to take less, say in the $35 million to $40 million range, then it would’ve been much easier to fairly compensate Adams. One would think Rodgers’ would’ve done such the way he recently raved about his best target since 2014.
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