In 2014, a rookie wide receiver caught Aaron Rodgers’ 200th touchdown pass. In 2020, the same wide receiver caught Rodgers’ 400th touchdown pass too. Together over eight years, they connected on 67 other touchdowns — and a total of 622 completions for 7,590 yards in 108 games, one of the most prolific quarterback-wide receiver duos of the last decade.
Now, a 40-year-old Rodgers, on the last legs of his storied career, is expected to reunite with an old friend. Just days after the Jets made a change at head coach, firing Robert Saleh five games into his fourth season, the team made a second significant move, acquiring wide receiver Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday.
It is a move that feels like it’s been in the works since the Jets acquired Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers in April 2023. When the quarterback arrived, he listed Adams as one of the players he’d like the Jets to add, along with some other former Packers (like Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, who they did sign) and Odell Beckham Jr. It didn’t come to fruition then, but as Adams’ happiness in Las Vegas disintegrated and he requested a trade in recent weeks, the Jets jumped to the forefront.
“I’m better because of him,” Rodgers told ESPN in 2020. “As a person and as a quarterback.”
A six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, the 31-year-old Adams remains elite, as evidenced by his nine-catch, 110-yard outburst in the Raiders’ Week 2 upset in Baltimore. But his best years came when Rodgers was throwing him the ball. Behind the scenes, Rodgers was pushing the Jets to acquire Adams, and general manager Joe Douglas called the Raiders at multiple points — trade deadline last year, this offseason — to check in but Las Vegas wasn’t interested in moving him.
Adams was frustrated at the Raiders’ quarterback play last season — from slamming his helmet to the turf in a Monday night game and saying that Jimmy Garoppolo was going to get him killed on the Netflix documentary “Receiver.” Sources say he was upset when the coaching staff went with Gardner Minshew over Aidan O’Connell as the starter to open this season; Adams felt O’Connell, who supplanted Minshew atop the depth chart in Week 6, was the better passer.
In July, Adams said there was a “fresh slate,” but was there? He left the Raiders during training camp for the birth of his first son, and while the team thought it would be just for a couple of days, Adams was gone for 10. When he came back, he said he didn’t want to play in the second preseason game. Pierce said everyone healthy would play, but Adams didn’t suit up due to soreness.
Pierce, it turns out, was surprised when Adams called a meeting with the coach on Sept. 30, according to league sources. Adams told Pierce he wanted to be traded to a better team. The Raiders told Adams they would grant his wish, as they don’t want players who don’t want to be there.
Pierce was asked last week where things with Adams went sideways.
“I don’t know,” Pierce said. “I think you’ve got to ask Davante that.”
When Las Vegas sent first- and second-round picks to the Packers in 2022, it was coming off a playoff berth and thought Adams gave the team a shot at a Super Bowl. The Raiders are 16-24 since then, and last October they fired the general manager (Dave Ziegler) and head coach (Josh McDaniels) who were in place when Adams arrived. A big reason Adams wanted to play with the Raiders in the first place was to reunite with Derek Carr, his quarterback at Fresno State. The two played 15 games together in 2022, and Adams saw a career-high 180 targets, leading the league in receiving touchdowns (15) and finishing with the second-most receiving yards of his career (1,516). But the Raiders released Carr, choosing to go with Garoppolo to start 2023. Garoppolo, McDaniels’ quarterback of choice, was benched last season and released in March.
Adams has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury — his last snap with the franchise came in a loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3. The Raiders’ top three receivers moving forward will be Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker and DJ Turner.
The holdup to any Adams trade was the Raiders’ insistence on getting back a second-round pick plus the acquiring team paying the entirety of Adams’ remaining 2024 salary. The New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers also inquired about acquiring the star receiver, while the Buffalo Bills were monitoring the situation.
When Adams became officially available, the Jets almost instantly expressed interest, though there was some reticence due to the financial aspect of a trade.
On the field, Adams’ fit is obvious and sensical, but it would be a stretch to say he solves all of the Jets’ problems, even if he’ll pair with Garrett Wilson to form one of the NFL’s most talented wide receiver duos.
In 2020 — the first of Rodgers’ back-to-back MVP seasons — Adams told ESPN that Rodgers “is the best quarterback in the NFL, and I’m the best wide receiver in the NFL. And the way that we jell, I don’t think that anybody else is doing it quite like us.”
But Rodgers is no longer the best quarterback in the NFL. In Week 5 in London he had his worst game as a Jet, and one of the worst of his career, the first time he’s ever thrown two interceptions in the first quarter and only the sixth time in 235 games he’s thrown three interceptions in a game. He’s still shown flashes of his signature arm talent and ability to make plays on the move, but he’s banged up — he suffered a low ankle sprain in the Week 5 loss to the Vikings — and sometimes plays like his age.
The Jets are breaking in a first-time (interim) head coach in Jeff Ulbrich. They have a tough stretch of the schedule coming up; after Monday’s home loss to the Bills, they travel to Pittsburgh in Week 7 and, after a trip to Foxboro, host a Thursday night home game against the Houston Texans on a short week.
Adams, Rodgers and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett had great success together in Green Bay in 2019-21, but that calculus also involved Packers coach Matt LaFleur calling plays, not Hackett — and Hackett, while still on the staff, is no longer calling plays with the Jets. Ulbrich stripped Hackett of his play-calling duties and replaced him with passing game coordinator Todd Downing, who was the Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator in 2021-22. Downing’s first game as offensive coordinator was Monday night against the Bills, and the offense looked better, but far from elite.
There’s also the matter of Wilson. The Jets’ young star got off to a slow start this season and had looked visibly frustrated as his chemistry with Rodgers failed to ignite over the first four games. How will the young receiver, not one to hide his emotions or frustration, feel about Rodgers’ best friend joining the team and becoming his favorite target?
Of course, Adams joining the fray should make life easier on Wilson, especially since defenses will no longer be able to divert all their coverage attention to one receiver. Wilson struggled to win matchups against opponents’ No. 1 corners through four games. Teams can’t double Wilson anymore if Adams is on the other side, and Rodgers always says he’ll throw it to whomever is open. But Wilson will not be the Jets’ No. 1 receiver as long as Adams is around and Rodgers is the quarterback — and Wilson is eligible for a contract extension for the first time this upcoming offseason. It’s a situation, and a relationship, worth watching.
At the end of the day, Adams makes the Jets offense better. Wilson, Adams, Allen Lazard and Mike Williams form a wide receiver quartet with significant potential. With a quality running back pairing in Breece Hall and rookie Braelon Allen, and solid play from tight end Tyler Conklin, the Jets have the pieces for a high-powered offense.
Plus, Rodgers is 17 touchdowns short of 500 for his career. Now Adams can catch that one too.
(Top photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
