Davante Adams contract impasse puts Packers on verge of implosion

Davante Adams is a free agent after the 2021 season and contract talks with the Green Bay Packers have now hit a major roadblock, adding to their issues.

Things have been tumultuous throughout the offseason for the Green Bay Packers thanks to their quarterback and reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers expressing his discontent with the franchise and opening the door to a possible departure. Beneath the surface of that, though, the organization has also been working to retain its top wide receiver, Davante Adams.

Adams, who has emerged as arguably the NFL’s best wide receiver but is slated to become a free agent after the 2021 season, has previously expressed interest in staying with Green Bay regardless of what happens with Rodgers. However, things have taken a strong turn for the worst in the case of the Packers in trying to lock Adams up.

According to a report from NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Adams and the Packers have broken off negotiations on a long-term contract extension with “no current plans” to resume those talks. Rapoport also said the two sides were in “a bad place” and noted that Green Bay’s proposed deals have “not acknowledged” Adams as the highest-paid player in the league at his position.

So entering a contract year, Davante Adams and the franchise are at an impasse and that severely puts the wide receiver’s future with Green Bay in doubt, especially considering that there should be no shortage of teams interested in acquiring Adams.

Losing Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers would mean dire consequences for the Green Bay Packers.

The report on Adams comes one day after the suggestion that Aaron Rodgers’ latest desires are for a shorter-term contract that would allow him to “pull a Tom Brady” and depart for another team in a quest for another Super Bowl. Subsequently, the Packers are now faced with the very real prospect of losing both Rodgers and Davante Adams after the 2021 season.

Not to sound hyperbolic, but losing that quarterback-wide receiver duo would be catastrophic for Green Bay. Yes, they still have a solid offensive line, a young core of defensive playmakers, and inked running back Aaron Jones to a new contract in free agency this offseason.

However, Rodgers has been the driving force of the franchise for over a decade now. Couple that with the fact that Adams, infamously, has been the only consistently reliable receiving target for the offense in recent years and you start to see the impact of losing not one but both players in a single offseason.

It should be said that the Packers did draft Jordan Love in the first round in 2020 but there is no way to have confidence in a developmental player who we simply haven’t seen on the field to this point. But it’s worth a caveat that, if Love can live up to his physical potential, then maybe losing Rodgers and Adams is slightly less of a blow.

That’s far from a formality, however, meaning that the Packers are teetering dangerously on the edge of seeing their infrastructure of the roster crumble. And if they aren’t able to repair the relationships with Rodgers and Adams over the next eight months, that becomes more and more realistic.