Jets trade for Davante Adams, reunite star WR with Aaron Rodgers: Sources

Written by Diana Rossini, Zach Rosenblatt, Tashan Reed, Vic Tavor, and Jake Seeley

Just one week after the New York Jets changed their head coach, firing Robert Saleh five games into his fourth season, the team made a significant second move, acquiring wide receiver Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday, according to league sources.

The Raiders will receive a conditional third-round pick that could become a second-round pick based on Adams’ performance, according to those sources. Specifically, a conditional third baseman becomes a secondary if Adams makes the first or second team All-Pro, or if Adams is on the active roster for the AFC Championship Game or Super Bowl, a league source said.

According to a team source, the Raiders are not paying Adams’ base salary. His remaining base salary is about $11.59 million, per cap hit.

Most of the deals were agreed upon before the Jets’ game against the Buffalo Bills on Monday, and Adams flew to New Jersey that night, league sources said.

The move unites Adams with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The two formed one of the most prolific quarterback receiving duos of the past decade while playing for the Green Bay Packers. In 2014 as a rookie, Adams caught Rodgers’ 200th touchdown pass. In 2020, he caught Rodgers’ 400th touchdown pass as well. Together over eight years with the Packers, they connected on 67 more touchdowns — and a total of 622 completions for 7,590 yards in 108 games.

It’s a move that feels like it’s been in the works since the Jets acquired Rodgers from Green Bay in April 2023. When the quarterback arrived, he listed Adams as one of the players he would like the Jets to add, along with a few others. Former Packers (such as Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, who have already signed) and Odell Beckham Jr. It didn’t come to fruition at the time, but with Adams’ happiness unraveling in Las Vegas and a trade request in recent weeks, the Jets have jumped into the lead.

“I’m better because of him,” Rodgers told ESPN in 2020. “As a person and as a quarterback.”

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The 31-year-old Adams, a six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, remains elite, as evidenced by his nine-catch, 110-yard burst 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 — last year’s trade deadline, in the offseason — to check in, but Las Vegas wasn’t interested in moving him.

After the trade, Jets owner Woody Johnson pointed to Adams’ experience with Rodgers as an incentive to complete the deal.

“We know they played together,” Johnson said. “I think anyone would be interested in looking at this guy. He’s got proven skill, that’s for sure.”

Johnson said Adams “adds to everything” in the Jets offense and that the receiver’s relationship with Rodgers is “very important.”

The owner went on to explain his rationale for the massive changes his team has made in recent weeks and how he believes they will change the course of the 2024 season.

“Overthinking it,” Johnson said when asked how quickly he thought the Jets could turn their season around. “You have to look forward. You have to look forward to the games we are going to play every week and try to win them all. These are key things.”

Johnson went on to quote a line from the movie “Talladega Nights” in which he spoke to Will Ferrell’s character Ricky Bobby.

“Remember that scene where he said, ‘You’re not a thinker, you’re a driver.’ Right? And a lot of times, you just have to follow your instincts and what’s best is to build a winning team but more importantly build a winning culture. I think based on what “I saw it yesterday, we are starting in an exciting new direction.”

Adams was frustrated with the Raiders’ quarterback play last season — starting with slamming his helmet on the turf in Monday night’s game and saying Jimmy Garoppolo was going to kill him in 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 that O’Connell, who replaced Minshew atop the depth chart in Week 6, was the better passer.

In July, Adams said there was a “new slate,” but was there? He left the Raiders during training camp for the birth of his first son, and while the team thought he would only be out for a few days, Adams missed 10 days. When he returned, he said he did not want to play in the second preparatory match. Pierce said everyone healthy would play, but Adams wasn’t fit due to pain.

It turns out Pierce 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, because they didn’t want players they didn’t want to be there.

Pearce was asked last week where things went with Adams.

“I don’t know,” Pierce said. “I think you should ask Davante that.”

When Las Vegas sent first- and second-round picks to the Packers in 2022, it was sitting out a playoff berth and thought Adams gave the team a shot at the 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. One of the main reasons Adams wanted to play for the Raiders in the first place was to reunite with Derek Carr, the quarterback at Fresno State. The two played 15 games together in 2022, and Adams had a career-high 180 touchdowns, 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, opting to go with Garoppolo to start 2023. Garoppolo, McDaniels’ favorite quarterback, 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 coming in a loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3. Jakobi Myers, Trey Tucker, and DJ Turner will be the Raiders’ top three receivers.

The obstacle to any trade for Adams was the Raiders’ insistence on getting back their second-round pick (which they waived) as well as the acquiring team paying Adams’ full remaining 2024 salary (which they did not do). The New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers also inquired about acquiring the star receiver, while the Bills were monitoring the situation.

When Adams officially became available, the Jets expressed interest almost immediately, although there was some reticence due to the financial aspect of the trade.

On the field, Adams is adequate, articulate and sensitive, but it would be an understatement to say he solves all of the Jets’ problems, even if he were to pair with Garrett Wilson to form one of the most talented receiver duos in the NFL.

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 we handle it, I don’t think anyone else does.” That’s just 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 games of his career, the first time he had two interceptions in a first quarter and only the sixth time in 235 games he had three interceptions in a game. . He still shows flashes of his elite arm talent and ability to make plays on the move, but he’s taken a hit — he suffered a sprained ankle in a Week 5 loss to the Vikings — and sometimes plays like his age.

The Jets are landing a first-time (interim) head coach in Jeff Ulbrich. They have a tough stretch of schedule coming up. After a home loss Monday to the Bills, they travel to Pittsburgh in Week 7, and after a trip to Foxboro, they host a home game Thursday night against the Houston Texans in a shortened week.

Adams, Rodgers and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett had great success together in Green Bay in the 2019-2021 season, but that calculus also included Packers coach Matt LaFleur calling the plays, not Hackett — and Hackett, while still on staff, no longer calling Aircraft plays. 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 looked visibly frustrated as his chemistry with Rodgers failed to ignite through the first four games. How would the young receiver, who makes no secret of his feelings or frustration, feel about Rodgers’ best friend joining the team and becoming his favorite target?

Naturally, having Adams join the fray would make life easier for Wilson, especially since defenses will no longer be able to shift all of their coverage attention to one receiver. Wilson has struggled to win games against opponents’ No. 1 corner kickers over four games. Teams can’t double Wilson anymore if Adams is on the other side, and Rodgers always says he’ll throw the ball to whoever is open. But Wilson won’t be the Jets’ No. 1 receiver as long as Adams is there and Rodgers is the quarterback — and Wilson is eligible for a contract extension for the first time this coming offseason. It’s a situation and relationship worth watching.

At the end of the day, Adams makes the Jets offense better. Wilson, Adams, Lazard and Mike Williams form a wide-ranging quartet with great potential. With a quality pairing in Breece Hall and rookie Braelon Allen, and strong play from Tyler Conklin, the Jets have the pieces for a high-powered offense.

Additionally, Rodgers has 16 fewer than 500 touchdowns in his career. Now Adams can pick that up too.

Imagination effect

The Adams trade is good news for Rodgers but bad news for Wilson. In Week 5, Wilson’s atrocious 22 targets turned into the second-lowest total yardage (101) of any receiver with 20+ targets in a game (since 2000). Wilson saw 10 more targets in Week 6, and now Adams will come in as Rodgers’ top option.

Lazard and his relationship with Rodgers — especially in the red zone — won’t go away either. That means Adams is the new No. 1 as Wilson and Lazard compete for the No. 2 spot — similar to the battle in Seattle between Tyler Lockett and Jackson Smith-Njigba.

Wilson and Lazard are WR3’s with the arrival of Adams, and Lazard now has a higher ceiling while landing upside down. Adams is a mid-rise WR2 with potential for WR1 numbers. — Jake Seeley, senior fiction writer

(Top Image: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)