GREEN BAY, Wis. — Allen Lazard finalized the inevitable Monday morning, signing his restricted free-agent offer with the Green Bay Packers.
There was never a question of whether Lazard would sign the second-round tender worth $3.986 million, even as he skipped the offseason program hoping to secure a long-term deal with the franchise. A team would have needed to place a first-round tender on Lazard for him to play elsewhere this fall.
The Packers had no incentive to extend Lazard a long-term contract this offseason, and the fifth-year receiver's 2022 salary would have plummeted to the fifth-year veteran minimum, a loss of roughly $3 million.