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Packers' Davante Adams avoids free agency, signs multiyear extension

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A little more than two weeks after Aaron Rodgers made a plea for the Green Bay Packers to sign wide receiver Davante Adams, general manager Ted Thompson got the deal done.

Adams, 25, signed a contract extension, the team announced Friday. The deal is for four years and $58.75 million, with $32 million guaranteed and an $18 million signing bonus, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

"He's making a lot of money this year," Rodgers said Dec. 12. "Hopefully we pay him sooner rather than later. He's a talented guy who has just proven it week after week. He's tough to guard. It's tough to guard him one-on-one."

Rodgers praised the deal on his Instagram account later Friday.

Well deserved @taeadams #4moreyears #

A post shared by Aaron Rodgers (@aaronrodgers12) on

At $14.7 million per season, Adams would rank fourth among all NFL receivers. He will be the third Packers receiver to average around $10 million per season; Randall Cobb has one season left on his four-year, $40 million deal, and Jordy Nelson has one season remaining on a four-year, $39 million contract. One or both players could be in danger of being released or having to take a pay cut this offseason.

Adams leads the Packers with 74 catches for 885 yards and 10 touchdowns in 14 games, surpassing Nelson as the team's No. 1 receiver.

Adams did not play last week against Minnesota because of a concussion, his second this season and third in 14 months. Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis and Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan served one-game suspensions for concussive hits on Adams.

Adams won't play in Sunday's season finale at Detroit because of the concussion he sustained on Dec. 17 at Carolina, and he has not been available for interviews since that game. But teammates and coaches said he had wanted to come back and play this season.

"He's pissed off," coach Mike McCarthy said. "He's irritated. He's angry. He wants to be out there. He's our best perimeter player and he was knocked out of the game at a critical time in the game and now he can't play again. I think it's only natural. He's irritated that he's in this spot."

Signing Adams now keeps him off the free-agent market in March, but the Packers still have other key players they could re-sign before then, including center Corey Linsley and safety Morgan Burnett.