After playing just two full seasons in a Las Vegas Raiders uniform, wide receiver phenomenon Davante Adams was traded to the New York Jets on Tuesday, Oct. 15. The blockbuster move came less than 12 hours after New York’s loss to division rival Buffalo in a primetime game to fall to 2-4 on the season. The skidding Jets had already fired head coach Robert Saleh the week prior, and, with playoff hopes on the line, the organization now looks toward Adams to save their colossal shipwreck of a season.
In New York, Adams reunites with his former teammate, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, with whom he played eight seasons while with the Green Bay Packers. The two connected for 615 passes during Adam’s tenure in Green Bay and own the Packers’ record for most career touchdowns by a quarterback-wide receiver duo with 68. They now plan to continue that dynamic in a much different environment after several front-office-related dilemmas over the past few years.
Adams said that prior to the 2021-22 season, the Packers front office “threw some deal at me that… barely made me even want to play for them that year,” he revealed on Maxx Crosby’s podcast. Contract talks stalled again following the season due to major disagreements between Adams and the organization; ultimately, Adams shocked the NFL world by demanding a trade. Just days before, Rodgers, a likely future Hall of Fame quarterback, had signed a long-term extension to remain in Green Bay. Yet, Adams desired to leave and chose Las Vegas as his destination where Derek Carr – his quarterback at Fresno State University – resided. Immediately after arriving in Las Vegas, Adams signed a five-year, $140 million contract through the 2026 season.
It did not take long for Adams’ dream of playing with Carr to slide drastically downhill. Carr, who had assisted Adams in engineering the trade to the Raiders, was benched with two games left in the 2022 season and subsequently released from the team after the season had ended. A Pro Bowler and First-Team All-Pro member that year, Adams remained loyal despite a disappointing 6-11 record and the expectation that Jarrett Stidham would start at quarterback in 2023. However, in March of that year, Stidham left Las Vegas in free agency, and the Raiders passed on drafting quarterbacks such as Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, and Anthony Richardson.
The Raiders instead signed Jimmy Garoppolo, a move that did not fuel any real success for the team, but rather Adams’ further aversion toward the front office.
Adams explained to ESPN that the Raiders’ lack of achievement was “not what I wanted. Obviously, I wanted to come here and have a big impact, continue to play at a high level and win games. And a lot of those things have happened – just not the winning part.”
Las Vegas went on to finish the season 8-9, firing head coach Josh McDaniels after eight games, with Adams earning no awards.
Tension continued into the start of the 2024 season when the Raiders’ quarterback woes persisted with Gardner Minshew in the backfield and television show “Receiver” releasing over the summer. In the show, Adams bashed Las Vegas’ front office and the everlasting quarterback situation, complaining during a sideline rant about Garoppolo’s horrible play in 2023 and the amount of big hits he has taken that could have ended his life.
Eventually, Adams requested a trade from the Raiders after a Week 4 win against the Browns – which he did not contribute to – as he was nursing a hamstring injury. Adams told head coach Antonio Pierce that he wanted out and handed the general manager a list of teams he would prefer to join; the Jets were at the top.
New York landed Adams after their Week 6 loss, giving up a conditional third-round draft pick and ending the two-season-long Adams-Rodgers breakup. Rodgers was struggling to find success with his Jets wide receivers, most evident when he targeted star wide receiver Garrett Wilson an astonishing 22 times during their Week 5 loss in London.
According to ESPN, “Rodgers was relieved – and thrilled – to learn his good friend was on his way to the Jets.” Adams had called Rodgers hours after the deal was finalized to inform him of the exciting reunion.
Adams is one of the many former Green Bay offensive players to have followed Rodgers to New York during the quarterback’s first two years in a different shade of green; he joins fellow wide receivers Allen Lazard and Malik Taylor, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, among others.
The Jets’ first game with Adams was lackluster to say the least, with New York getting dominated 37-15 by the Steelers during Sunday Night Football of Week 7. Adams only hauled in three catches on nine targets for 30 yards, while Rodgers was intercepted twice.
“We flat out didn’t finish. That has been the underlying thing with this team this year. I am just getting here but I hope I can do something to change that,” Adams commented on the team’s miserable performance.
The six-time Pro Bowler’s arrival in New York is undoubtedly a thrilling moment for a team that had recently graduated from a rebuilder to a contender. Nonetheless, the organization has much more to prove, as the failure of the Rodgers era in New York has only worsened. They must rebound from their dreadful 2-5 record in order to have any chance of smelling the postseason with ten games to go. The question remains whether the acquisition of Adams will truly help them turn the corner or have no resounding impact on New York’s success.
