Will Week 1 be a cutoff for the Green Bay Packers and All-Pro receiver Davante Adams on a new contract?
The team isn’t planning on any kind of negotiating deadline.
In fact, general manager Brian Gutekunst said the Packers will continue to work with Adams during the season.
“We’re always open to the conversations, we don’t shut things down for the season. I know some teams have done that in the past. Russ and I don’t think that’s how we would do things. We’re open, like last year with David, we’re willing to work through the season to get things done,” Gutekunst said Sunday.
Adams, an All-Pro last season, is entering the final year of his deal in 2021. Not surprisingly, Adams wants to become the highest-paid receiver in football. The problem? The player and team have different ideas on who is the highest-paid receiver in the NFL, thanks to DeAndre Hopkins’ outlier contract extension signed with the Arizona Cardinals.
Finding a compromise won’t be easy.
Last year, the Packers made All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history with a contract extension completed in November, so there is a recent precedent for the team getting a deal done with a top player in-season.
Still, Gutekunst knows it’ll take time to get a deal of this magnitude done.
“This will be a long process. This is another big contract with a very elite player. It will take some time,” Gutekunst said.
Adams, who turns 29 in December, caught 115 passes for 1,374 yards and an NFL-high 18 touchdowns in 2020. He was voted a first-team All-Pro – the Packers’ first at receiver since Antonio Freeman in 1998 – and the highest-graded receiver overall at Pro Football Focus.
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