Adams urges NFL to look at ‘ugly hits’
GREEN BAY - Cleared from concussion protocol, Green Bay Packers receiver Davante Adams said he’s “definitely not worried about my health long term” following his third brain injury in 14 months.
Adams missed the final two games this season with a concussion after Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis throttled him with an illegal, blindside block in Week 15. It was the second time this season Adams suffered a concussion after such a hit, the first coming in September when Chicago Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan smashed into his helmet at the end of a play.
Adams also received a concussion early in the 2016 season.
Regardless, Adams presumably did not consider walking away from the game. He signed a four-year, $58 million extension last week, a lucrative second NFL contract that prevents him from becoming a free agent in March.
“I’m 100% fine,” Adams said. “It’s not anything. It happened twice in a year. It’s more mental and (I’m) upset that I couldn’t play in the game to be there for my teammates. But definitely not worried about my health long term.”
Adams has not communicated with Davis beyond a tweeted apology from the Panthers linebacker. Asked if he felt Davis’ apology was sincere, Adams simply said it didn’t matter to him either way.
He admitted frustration after being knocked out of games with two vicious hits in the same season.
“Real, real ugly hits,” Adams said. “This last one, it’s tough because everybody saw how it looked, and I think people overreacted a little bit with some of it, but just taking precaution. You don’t want to be stupid out there with head injuries and things like that.
“It’s not like I’m falling and hitting my head and getting concussions. It’s people out here doing malicious things to take me off the field. When it happens twice, it kind of gets to you a little bit, and you just want to be a little safe and take precaution and make sure you’re not damaging yourself long term.”
Adams said he doesn’t expect big hits to be removed from the game. He understands defenders have split-second decisions to make on the field, but he believes the NFL should discuss how to make the game safer with brain injuries this off-season. Adams advocated the NFL adopting college football’s method of reviewing hits on the field, and making
ejections accordingly.
“Having it in place would definitely help,” Adams said, “but we’ll see how they take care of it.”
Adams said one reason he chose to re-sign with the Packers during the season, instead of waiting to test the freeagent market, was his comfort in Green Bay. He enjoys having Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback, naturally, and also sharing the receiver room with Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb.
It’s unclear whether Nelson and Cobb will be his teammates next season. Both are entering the final year of contracts, and the Packers have a lot of money going to their top three receivers. They could structure Adams’ contract to absorb less cap space in 2018.
“I don’t know how that works, but I hope my brothers are here with me,” Adams said. “I hope that I get to continue, that we all get to continue our success together here in Green Bay. It is a business. We’ll see how everything happens. I can’t tell you the chances and all that.”
Reunion: Alonzo Highsmith, the Packers’ longtime senior personnel executive, is expected to join general manager John Dorsey’s staff with the Cleveland Browns, a source said.
A deal that would give Highsmith a vice-president title inside the Browns’ organization and place him directly under Dorsey is being finalized, the source said. It would be a reunion for Highsmith
and Dorsey, who worked together for 13 years in Green Bay.
Dorsey, who left the Packers in 2012 to be the Kansas City Chiefs’ general manager, was hired as the Browns’ general manager last month.
Originally hired by Ron Wolf, Highsmith has worked in the Packers’ personnel department 19 years. An elite personnel evaluator, his importance to the organization can’t be overstated. Highsmith discovered Donald Driver,a former seventh-round pick who became the Packers’ all-time leading receiver, and former undrafted cornerback Sam Shields, among others.
Highsmith could be just the first toptier scout to depart the Packers’ personnel department, depending on how the Packers’ search for a general manager concludes. In his remarks to the media Tuesday, team president Mark Murphy opened the door for potential internal candidates to interview for parallel positions if they were not hired as the Packers’ next general manager.
“If it’s a great opportunity for somebody,” Murphy said, “I don’t want to hold them back.”
Hands off: Whoever is hired to be the Packers’ next general manager, Murphy plans to be as hands off when it comes to football operations as he was with Ted Thompson.
That includes the franchise’s approach to free agency. Under Thompson, no team in the NFL was as reluctant as the Packers to dabble in the open market. The Packers went a league-record five years without signing an unrestricted free agent before ending that stretch last spring when they reached a deal with tight end Martellus Bennett.
If Murphy would like to see his team be more active in free agency, he kept those feelings to himself.
“There’s a lot of different ways to build a team,” Murphy said. “I know Ted’s a lightning rod, and I’ve heard from a lot of people about our free-agent strategy and things of that nature, but I’m not going to tie the hands of the next general manager. I’ll be supportive of him and encourage him to do everything we can to bring a championship here.”
Root canal: It was only fitting that Thompson was absent for his own farewell news conference.
Since the Packers hired him as their general manager in 2005, no top executive in football has been more elusive than Thompson. It’s a point Murphy made in his opening remarks.
“Some of you may be wondering why Ted is not here,” Murphy said. “No disrespect to any of you, but Ted enjoys dealing with you about as much as a root canal. That was meant to be a joke. But seriously, those of you who know Ted, he doesn’t enjoy dealing with the media. If he had his way, he would never have any interaction with the media, he wouldn’t.”
All fine, except as the Packers’ top football executive, the general manager has ultimate authority over roster decisions. Considering the organization’s shareholder model, the Packers general manager also has no one owner holding him accountable.
Thompson’s absence from the public neglected part of his responsibilities as general manager, often putting coach Mike McCarthy in the uncomfortable position to explain roster decisions he did not make to the team’s fan base. There still is no official reason for why Thompson chose to release All-Pro left guard Josh Sitton before the 2016 season, a shocking move at the time.
Murphy said he’ll address being more available to his fan base through the media with whoever he hires as the Packers next GM, although it might ultimately depend on personality and temperament.
Retained: The Packers announced they re-signed half their practice squad to deals that will retain them on the offseason roster. The five were receiver DeAngelo Yancey, receiver Jake Kumerow, receiver Colby Pearson, tight end Robert Tonyan and long snapper Zach Triner.