Packers agree on one-year deal to keep receiver Geronimo Allison

Jim Owczarski
Packers News

GREEN BAY - If he had his druthers, Geronimo Allison would play his entire career in Green Bay. But he also knows there’s only so much he can control in that regard.

The ball was put in his court Wednesday after the Packers tendered him as a restricted free-agent contract, and Allison made good on his word and elected Friday to sign a one-year deal to play with the organization in 2019.

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A source familiar with the deal confirmed to PackersNews.com that Allison elected to not wait for other teams to attempt to persuade him to leave Green Bay under the restricted free-agent tender offer. If he had let that play out over the offseason, Allison could have signed an offer and given the Packers a chance to match it or let him go.

“If you ask me which one do I prefer? I’m going to tell you I’m a Packer for life, baby,” Allison told PackersNews.com at the end of the season. “If I can do that, if I can make that happen, that’s what I prefer.”

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Geronimo Allison catches a machine-fed ball during practice inside the Hutson Center on Oct. 11, 2018

Locking Allison in for 2019 gives Aaron Rodgers a second, veteran trusted target alongside Davante Adams as the Packers reshape their offense under first-year head coach Matt LaFleur.

Before suffering a string of injuries, including his season-ending torn adductor muscle, Allison was on pace for a 76-catch, 1,156-yard season in 2018.

Allison said he will be 100 percent by the time the Packers begin voluntary workouts in early April.