Unlike center Evan Dietrich-Smith, who signed his one year-restricted free agent tender on Friday, there’s been no word of cornerback Sam Shields signing his. Apparently, there’s good reason for that — the Green Bay Packers are working on a long-term deal with Shields.
The Packers gave Shields a second-round tender, the highest tender they handed out. That will pay him a little more than $2 million for 2013 if he simply signed that.
However, it would be wise for the Packers to lock up Shields now. Shields had his best season as a pro in 2012 and it seems more and more likely this could be Tramon Williams‘ last season in Green Bay. In addition to his play falling off in recent seasons, Williams will cost the Packers a $9.5 million cap hit in 2014.
Here’s the bad news. Shields and the Packers reportedly aren’t anywhere close to finishing this deal, so it could be a while before he shows up for the Packers offseason program.
It sounds as if the Packers will finish up Aaron Rodgers‘ and Clay Matthews‘ extensions and then turn their attention to Shields.