According to Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, the team explored a reunion with All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams when he became a free agent earlier this offseason. 
“I think any time you have a player of that caliber, there’s definitely conversations that go into it,” LaFleur told Kay Adams last week. “Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Adams spent the first eight years of his career in Green Bay but refused to play under a franchise tag in 2022 and requested a trade to the Raiders. Since his departure, the Packers have focused on drafting and developing young receivers rather than signing expensive veterans. They selected Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson in 2022 and Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks in 2023; all four have emerged as reliable targets, though none have matched Adams’ production.
That led to rumors this offseason that the Packers were looking to add a veteran target to round out their room. They never made an offer for D.K. Metcalf, but Adams was apparently on their radar. Instead, they doubled down on their recent youthful strategy, drafting their first wide receiver in the first round since 2002, before that rookie from Texas, Matthew Golden, was even born.
Moving forward with the bodies they have in the building, though, requires them to start looking into new contracts for the players who have been leading the way the past few years. We saw that a week ago, when it was reported that Reed’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, met with Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, to “clarify (Reed)’s status” with the team. At the time, head coach Matt LaFleur was shocked to receive a question about Reed, pointing out how well the young receiver has done with taking Golden under his wing. LaFleur clarified earlier this week that he hadn’t been a part of the conversation between Rosenhaus and Gutekunst, per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, and doubled down on Reed continuing to be an excellent leader.
Reed is also reportedly able to lead by example as “he’s good to go now,” despite not undergoing surgery this offseason. His season ended in Philadelphia with a dislocated shoulder and a partially torn labrum. Seemingly, surgery was not necessary for the injuries to heal as Reed claims it took “about four or five months” to remedy without a procedure, according to Ryan Wood of USA Today.
Another receiver attempting to come from injury is Watson, who suffered “a torn ACL and additional damage” in the final week of the regular season. The non-contact injury was initially expected to force some missed time in his 2025 campaign, but a timeline had not been generated in those earlier reports. While still unable to provide a timeline, per Demovsky, LaFleur remains optimistic, claiming that the 25-year-old is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation and recovery.
Ely Allen contributed to this post.
I would have been stunned if this had happened. Adams has always wanted to be on the West Coast, but would always go with the highest bidder. He’s said that since he was drafted. And I don’t blame him one bit.
3rd contract (or in Adams’ case, 4th!) guys almost never sign with the Packers. You can count the exceptions since Ron Wolf on one hand: Keith Jackson, Andre Rison (for cheap), Don Beebee, Julius Peppers (note 20 years since Beebee), Mercedes Lewis, David Bakhtiari, Kenny Clarke.
There probably are a few more, but that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. In the last 35 years.
The Packers have the youngest roster in the league and certainly don’t need this old goat. Stick with the plan of having these young guys mature together and in the long run Green Bay will be much farther ahead.
I think this says more about Adams’ declining value around the league than it does about the Packers (other than their cap space availability).
The Packers do need a person who can reliably catch a ball on third down, but perhaps one of their new draftees has that ability.