On Thursday night, the Raiders snatched the spotlight from the the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament by trading for Davante Adams.
Needless to say, NFL fans went crazy from the news.
The now-former Packers receiver is one of the best receivers in the game. Some say he is the best.
Adams, 29, is a 5x All-Pro, 2x First-Team All-Pro, averaged 101 receptions, 1,239 yards and 11 TDs over the last five seasons and was Aaron Rodgers’ primary weapon during this time.
While the Packers were busy trying to sign Rodgers to a new deal, Adams took a backseat.
Understandable since Rodgers is the reigning MVP and, arguably, the best quarterback in the NFL.
But they forgot that Adams was also in that same elite category in his position. Rodgers can’t throw the ball to himself for a TD, can he?
It looked like the Packers were going to franchise tag him for the 2022 season, which would reportedly pay him $20.145 million.
Then the Jaguars stunned everyone and signed Christian Kirk to a four-year, $84 million deal. That’s $21 million for a receiver who is good, but not $21 million good.
When Adams saw that, he let the team know he wasn’t playing under the franchise tag, and rightfully so. There’s no way Kirk should make more than him.
Rodgers then signed his new three-year, $150 million contract, with the first two years of $42 million and $59.515 million guaranteed. That’s approximately $50 million per year, the largest contract in NFL history.
After the ink dried, the team turned their attention back to Adams.
But Adams wasn’t feeling the love, so it appeared thingss might take longer than the Packers hoped.
Turns out, it didn’t take that long.
The Packers traded Adams to the Raiders for a 2022 first-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick. The Raiders then signed their new star to a five-year, $141.25 million deal that pays him $28.25 million annually. That made Adams the highest-paid NFL receiver, leapfrogging him over DeAndre Hopkins ($27.25 million annually).
The trade reunites Adams with his good friend and former Fresno State teammate David Carr, and makes the Raiders a legitimate Super Bowl threat.
While egas celebrated, the Packers were ripped.
Many felt Green Bay got robbed and should have received two first-rounders instead.
Others focused on the fact that they gave all this money to Rodgers and now he has no one to throw to.
At first glance, the Packers appeared to take the L.
But as we learned more about the scenario, it appears the Packers might not have taken such a large L.
First, according to NFL Packers reporter Rob Demovsky, the Packers offered to pay Davante what the Raiders offered but he wanted to play elsewhere.
Second, he fulfilled his desire to play with David Carr again, which he noted in this 2021 interview with ABC 30 anchor, Bri Mellon.
“I’ll just continue to be me and let this thing play out,” said Adams. “Obviously, I love Derek to death. We got a great friendship and we still communicate really consistently. He’s one of my best friends, so obviously, it’d be a dream to be able to play with him. But, you know, I’m a Packer now, so until that point where we make that decision, I guess we’ll see what happens.”
Lastly, Adams went to a state with no income tax, a new stadium and much bigger and brighter lights.
Green Bay couldn’t match the last two factors, so they got what they could for him, which makes the trade a little easier to understand.
But here’s where Green Bay might actually save face.
Good receivers, including Jarvis Landry, Julio Jones and JuJu Smith-Schuster, are still available.
Jarvis just started looking for a new home, Jones hasn’t received much attention since being cut by the Titans and JuJu hasn’t received an offer as of yet.
Landry, 29, was making $15.9 million with the Browns before he was cut last week.
JuJu, 25, played on a one-year, $8 million deal with the Steelers last season.
Jones, 33, originally had a three-year, $38.3 million contract when he was traded to Tennessee and was making roughly $12.77 million per year before his contract was restructured.
These players present an opportunity to give Rodgers good weapons for much less than Davante Adams. And if Rodgers only plays for two or three years, they have time to add more talent and still compete.
The Packers definitely made mistakes in handling Davante Adams, and they should be criticized for that.
On Get Up! this morning, Mike Tannenbaum did just that by noting that they could have offered the franchise tag, waited for a team to offer more and then match it, or simply dock Adams every game he didn’t play. Yes, they’d take a hit and damage the relationship, but Adams would take a financial hit as well.
But aside from playing hardball with Adams, the Packers do have a path to getting Rodgers help offensively, so they might not take as big an L as originally thought.
Now let’s see if they can convince them to come to Lambeau.
