Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams make “Last Dance” posts on Instagram

Green Bay’s disgruntled stars make Instagram posts on Friday night that show how they view the Packers’ 2021 season and beyond.

Davante Adams has thoughts on his situation with the Green Bay Packers and wants the world to know it. On Friday, after news broke that the All-Pro receiver is no longer having conversations with the Packers regarding a contract extension, the four-time Pro Bowler made a post on Instagram that seems to allude to ESPN’s The Last Dance documentary. Soon after, quarterback Aaron Rodgers joined in by posting the same photo.

The documentary covered the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls during their “last dance” as the team’s general manager Jerry Krause planned on rebuilding the team in a post-dynasty image the following season. If you want to read into the heavy-handed metaphor, it seems like Adams and Rodgers are claiming that this will be their final year in Green Bay.

Adams, a 2022 free agent who apparently wants to be paid like the best player at his position in the league, already stated this offseason that he will not holdout due to the NFL’s fine system under the 2020 collective bargaining agreement, which successfully avoided a single holdout league-wide for ownership and front offices last season. Under the new fine system, veterans can be fined $50,000 per day for holding out, with the caveat that fines are no longer waivable on the team level and are now functionally mandatory fines.

Rodgers, who has been extremely coy to talk to about his frustration with the team in public for a reigning MVP who has had reports claim he is completely done with the franchise, seems to be following suit with Adams. In the end, career frustration can only be leveraged so much against financial frustration under the league’s new rules.

The NFL’s owners may have earned the right to pull holdouts off of the negotiating table through their collective bargaining win, but the result of it is players potentially suiting up for teams that they believe they no longer have a future with long-term. In some ways, the Packers are becoming a test case on the functionality of how the anti-holdout policies of the new collective bargaining agreement realistically play out in a world where NFL athletes see the player empowerment in other sports and leagues.