GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Blinking, swallowing hard didn’t have a prayer against the stunning news from the Green Bay Packers, they’ve traded All Pro wide receiver Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders.
The bombshell was broken by Ian Rapoport who reported Green Bay is sending Adams to Las Vegas for the Raiders first round pick, another choice and possibly a player. Adams will get a brand new, long term contract from the Raiders, reported at five years and 141.25 million dollars, the new NFL standard for wide receiver.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst applied the franchise tag on Adams before his contract expired, keeping him with the team at a cost of 20.1 million dollars. The team had until July to negotiate a long term extension. Adams made it known he wasn’t fond of playing at that price.
Rapoport also reported the trade had been discussed for a couple of weeks, during the same time the Packers and Aaron Rodgers came to terms on his 5 year, 185 million dollar whopper with 150 million guaranteed. You have to assume Rodgers was kept apprised of this magnitude of a decision from upstairs.
According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, he was. Demovsky reported the team was willing to match the Raiders offer but Adams wanted to move on. And Rodgers was kept abreast of it all.
Adams was the Pack’s second round pick out of Fresno State in 2014. After modest production and a dose of criticism through his first two seasons, Adams steadily rose to the top of his profession working with Rodgers. A breakout, 111 catch, 13 touchdown season in 2018 has turned into a franchise and even league record rewrite. In 2020 it was 115 grabs with 18 scores, last season had Adams pulled in 123 more in the final year of his contract.
Adams has piled up 669 receptions for 8121 yards and 73 touchdowns on his Packer ledger. The numbers will grow catching passes from his former Bulldog teammate, Derek Carr.
Where does this leave the Packer offense?
Wonder what the quarterback thinks?
Right now, Allen Lazard is the number one on a second round tender, 4.2 million dollar restricted free agent deal. Randall Cobb is coming back for another go at a cut rate, from 8.5 down to 3 million. Amari Rodgers is the only other receiver under contract. Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s phone is busy on the free agent market and now there’s certainly a lot of money available for Russ Ball and company.
There are a couple of veteran receivers, like Julio Jones on the market and then there’s the draft. Receivers are deep in numbers and fleet of foot this year. With the Raiders first round pick at number 22 and the Packers holding the 28th in the opening round of next month’s draft, Gutekunst will have enough on his table to move well up into the first round with receiver at the top of his list.
How will Matt LaFleur’s offense function without that top echelon talent? While Adams was compiling those Hall of Fame trending numbers, he did miss a few games here and there. The Packers won all seven of ’em.
The Hall of Fame lock at quarterback will have a new cast in the wide receiver room and 50 million reasons why he’d better find a way to make it work in 2022.
