The Green Bay Packers and Las Vegas Raiders combined to make one of the biggest moves of the NFL offseason this week, as the Packers traded star wide receiver Davante Adams to Sin City for the Raiders’ first and second-round picks. It was a development that shocked the NFL world, as quarterback Aaron Rodgers had just recently committed to returning to Green Bay. The two had been joined at the hip since 2014. Was Rodgers aware his wide receiver was on the way out? According to a new report, he was.
While Rodgers was negotiating his multi-year extension, he knew Adams would never play for the Packers again, per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport. Adams reportedly informed the Packers that he was not going to play on the franchise tag in 2022, and the situation was apparently too far gone. The Raiders were always a potential landing spot for Adams, as he played with quarterback Derek Carr in college at Fresno State. Rapoport said the trade had quietly been in the works for days.
With Adams being dealt to Vegas, he will reportedly sign a five-year, $141.25 million contract, per Rapoport. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reports that the Packers were willing to pay Adams what the Raiders are, but that Adams preferred to play elsewhere. If Adams were to play on the franchise tag in 2022, he would have made $20.145 million.
Rodgers deciding to return to a Packers team that would no longer have his No. 1 wideout certainly says something about where his heart was this offseason. He could have decided to follow his former offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett to the Denver Broncos and work with a wide receiving corps headlined by Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick, but decided to remain with the franchise he’s made home.
