Packers need to pay Davante Adams sooner rather than later

The Green Bay Packers and Davante Adams will work out a contract extension before the regular season. That much there should be little doubt about.

However, the longer a new deal with Adams takes, the more it hurts the Packers.

The Packers used the franchise tag on Adams last week. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport, Adams won’t play on the franchise tag as he wants a long-term deal.

At some point, the Packers are going to have to pay their All-Pro wide receiver and likely make him the highest-paid player at the position. Delaying it only causes more problems in the short term.

The most obvious one is the salary cap.

Per Spotrac, Adams will have a cap hit of $20.15 million on the franchise tag. While that’s the case, it could prevent Green Bay from being able to make other moves in free agency. What if Adams’ cap hit makes it harder to re-sign another key player like De’Vondre Campbell?

By working out a long-term extension, the Packers not only get their superstar receiver under contract for multiple years, but they could also potentially lower that $20 million cap hit for 2022.

The problem here isn’t concern that the Packers and Adams won’t eventually work out a deal, or that Adams won’t be playing in Green Bay in 2022, but rather the longer it goes without an agreement, the longer the team has to carry the $20 million cap hit.

Adams has made his side of it clear. He wants to be paid. That isn’t going to change between now and the summer. If the Packers want Adams to be out there this season, they need to make him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL.

Until that happens, nobody wins. In the short term, the cap hit could affect free agency.