Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst isn’t guaranteeing that receiver Davante Adams will remain in Green Bay in 2022.
Gutekunst said today that he wants to reach a long-term contract extension with Adams, and that the team would prefer that over using the franchise tag on Adams.
And Gutekunst called Adams walking away in free agency a possibility.
If the Packers absolutely, positively do not want Adams to leave, they can keep him with the franchise tag. That Gutekunst isn’t ruling out that possibility suggests that there is a chance the Packers will neither put the franchise tag on Adams nor sign him to a long-term deal.
But that possibility seems rather remote. Far more likely, the Packers try to get something worked out with their All-Pro receiver, and if nothing gets worked out, they use the franchise tag to prevent him from hitting free agency.