GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Davante Adams has been the victim of two hits -- "ugly hits," as he called them -- that left him concussed this season, and the Green Bay Packers receiver would like to see some additional measures taken to try to eliminate them from the NFL.
"You have to do something about it," Adams said Tuesday. "I feel like what they're doing in college, they review it or whatever. Having it in place would definitely help. But we'll see how they take care of it."
Adams missed the final two games of the season because he was in the concussion protocol after Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis knocked him out of their Week 15 game with an illegal block. Adams did not miss any games earlier in the season even though he sustained a concussion after a hit from Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan. Both Davis and Trevathan served one-game suspensions for their hits.
"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 precautions and make sure you're not damaging yourself long term."
Adams also sustained a concussion in 2016 but did not miss a game. Still, that's three concussions within 14 months.
Adams said he has not talked with Davis despite their exchange on Twitter after the hit.
"This ship has sailed," Adams said. "At this point, there's no point in doing that. They've got to do what they've got to do, and we're done here. We're too far removed from that. It is what it is at this point."
However, the 25-year-old said Tuesday that he has been cleared, meaning he could have played if the Packers were in the playoffs, and has no long-term health concerns.
"I'm 100 percent fine," Adams said. "It's not anything [I'm concerned with]. It happened twice in a year. It's more mental and upset that I couldn't play in the game to be there for my teammates. But definitely not worried about my health long term."
The Packers apparently aren't worried either because they gave Adams a four-year, $58.75 million contract extension last week in order to keep him off the free-agent market. It made him their highest-paid receiver and one of the highest-paid in the NFL at his position.
Adams caught 74 passes for 885 yards and 10 touchdowns -- all team highs -- despite playing half the season without quarterback Aaron Rodgers.