GREEN BAY, Wis. — The standoff between the Green Bay Packers and first-round defensive lineman B.J. Raji ended Thursday evening when the two sides agreed to terms on a five-year contract, two NFL sources said.

Raji missed 13 days of training camp before agreeing to what one source said was a five-year, $28.5 million deal that included just under $18 million in guaranteed money. The contract is not complete, but the two sides are expected to finish some of the language Friday morning before Raji signs it.
Asked if the deal was done after the team’s night practice Thursday, coach Mike McCarthy said: “I hope so. I’d love to see him. I hope, I hope, I hope. I know we’re close. That’s what I was told before I came to practice.”
It took less than 48 hours from the time Raji got on a plane at Austin Straubel Airport on Tuesday night and headed for Boston to work out at his alma mater, Boston College.
Raji’s departure was more symbolic than anything; it showed his agents were serious about their demands and that he wasn’t going to train in the same city as the team that wouldn’t pay him. It also meant the Packers would have no way of knowing if Raji was keeping himself in playing shape, something that is critical for a guy who weighed in at around 337 during off-season workouts.
How much of an impact his departure made is not known, but something kick-started negotiations Thursday because by around 6:30 p.m. the two sides had agreed in principle on the numbers.
No Packers draft choice since Ross Verba in 1997 (22 days) had missed as much of his first training camp as Raji, the ninth overall selection in the 2009 draft. The longest holdout the Packers have had since that time was when quarterback Aaron Rodgers missed four days in 2005.
Raji has missed 11 practices conducted in full pads and two in shells. He will not play in the team’s exhibition opener against Cleveland on Saturday and probably will be put on a special program to get him up to speed with the rest of the players in camp.
“I don’t think it’s that easy,” McCarthy said. “There’s a lot of snaps. In-line players have an opportunity to get in football shape because we’ve obviously had a lot of padded practices and that’s something we can’t make up. We have to make sure we’re putting him in position where he can achieve that training that’s need to play at that competitive environment like a live game.”
The Packers have six or seven more practices with full pads depending on what McCarthy does with a night practice scheduled for Aug. 24. That’s not a lot of time to get Raji ready, but there are also three exhibition games after the Cleveland game and he may get a lot of playing time in the last two.
It’s conceivable that Raji will be able to win back the starting left defensive end position given there are three weeks of camp left and veteran ends Justin Harrell (back) and Johnny Jolly (ankle) have been injured. Jolly returned to practice Thursday night for the first time since injuring his ankle the first week of camp.
The Packers worked Raji at left defensive end all during offseason workouts and he is familiar with the basics of the defense. A bigger question than his knowledge of the defense will be the kind of physical condition he is in.
“We need to see him,” McCarthy said. “Need to see him work out. Need to see what kind of shape he’s in. Obviously, it will be an adjusted plan. Every time you bring a player in this late you have to be real smart because he’s at a whole different level as far as his conditioning.”
He had weight issues at Boston College but left offseason workouts here in pretty good shape. He has been working out at a local high school while waiting for his contract to get done, but the Packers won’t know exactly where he’s at until they can test him on the field.
In addition to wanting Raji to play left end, they also want him to back up starting nose tackle Ryan Pickett and play in the middle of their 4-3 nickel package they use on passing downs. No team since the Atlanta Falcons selected Tony Casillas in 1983 had selected a nose tackle so high in the draft and the Packers expect him to have an immediate impact.
By some estimates, Raji’s deal was somewhat less than the inflated contracts of No. 5 pick Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets and No. 7 pick Darrius Heyward-Bey of the Oakland Raiders and more than the Jacksonville Jaguars (No.8), San Francisco 49ers (No. 10) and Buffalo Bills (No. 11) have allocated for their respective draft picks, all of whom are still unsigned.
The No. 9 pick last year, Cincinnati linebacker Keith Rivers, signed a five-year deal worth $20.1 million and included around $15.7 million in guarantees. Raji’s total deal represents a 40 percent increase in total value, and an increase of about 15 percent in guarantees.
It’s hard to judge exactly how the two contracts compare until the details of Raji’s deal are known, but it appears there was compromise on both sides. The Packers avoided paying the 20 percent increase Heyward-Bey got in guaranteed money, but managed a solid increase from what Rivers had a year ago.
Raji’s side faced a long standoff if it didn’t accept less of an increase and the Packers were in danger of not having Raji for training camp if they didn’t offer a reasonable guarantee.