Jets trade for Davante Adams, reuniting star WR with Aaron Rodgers

By Dianna Russini, Zack Rosenblatt, Tashan Reed, Vic Tafur and Jake Ciely

Just one week after the Jets made a change at coach, firing Robert Saleh five games into his fourth season, New York made a second significant move, acquiring wide receiver Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders, the teams announced Tuesday.

“As a kid from East Palo Alto who grew up a Raiders fan, the past three years have been both an honor and fulfillment of a childhood dream,” Adams posted on Instagram following the trade. “I came to Las Vegas with the intention of bringing a championship to the city and have cherished every opportunity to play with that continued pursuit in mind. … From Oakland to Las Vegas, Raider Nation has and will always be part of my family.”

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

The Raiders are not paying down Adams’ base salary, according to a team source. His remaining base salary is about $11.59 million, per Over the Cap.

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

The move reunites Adams with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The two formed one of the last decade’s most prolific quarterback-wide receiver duos 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. Over eight years with the Packers, they connected on 67 other touchdowns and 622 completions for 7,590 yards in 108 games.

It is 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’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.

“He’s made me look good a lot of times,” Rodgers said of Adams during a Tuesday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” adding: “We definitely got better today.”

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.

After the deal, Jets owner Woody Johnson referenced Adams’ experience with Rodgers as a motivation to complete the deal.

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

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

The owner went on to explain his rationality for his team’s massive changes in recent weeks and how he believes it will change the course of their 2024 season.

“Thinking is overrated,” Johnson said when asked how quickly he thinks the Jets can turn around their season. “You have to look forward. You have to look forward to the games we’re going to play each and every week and try to win all of them. That’s basic stuff.”

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

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

GO DEEPER

Davante Adams trade grades: Kudos to Jets for pushing all in; why did Raiders wait so long?

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.

Appearing alongside Rodgers for a portion of the quarterback’s weekly “The Pat McAfee Show” appearance on Tuesday, Adams suggested he’s healthy and ready to contribute immediately: “I’m feeling great, I was working with the staff in Vegas the whole time and they got me right, so I’ll be ready to roll… we should be able to pick up where we left off.”

The holdup to any Adams trade was the Raiders’ insistence on getting back a second-round pick (which they compromised on) plus the acquiring team paying the entirety of Adams’ remaining 2024 salary (which they did not). The New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers also inquired about acquiring the star receiver, while the 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.”

Davante Adams is headed to New York to try and salvage the Jets playoff hopes.

My model has the Adams trade increasing the Jets playoff odds by 7%.

Odds can be found here:@TheAthleticNFLhttps://t.co/3Em2zy53fQ pic.twitter.com/iVRqURFpG3

— Austin Mock (@amock419) October 15, 2024

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 whoever 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, 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 16 touchdowns short of 500 for his career. Now Adams can catch that one too.

Fantasy impact of the trade

The Adams trade is good news for Rodgers but bad news for Wilson. In Week 5, Wilson’s outrageous 22 targets turned into the second-lowest yardage total (101) for any receiver with 20-plus 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 rapport with Rodgers — particularly in the red zone — won’t go away either. That means Adams is the new No. 1 with Wilson and Lazard fighting for the No. 2 spot — similar to the battle in Seattle between Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Wilson and Lazard are WR3s with Adams’ arrival, and Lazard now has the higher ceiling with the touchdown upside. Adams is a mid-high WR2 with the potential for WR1 numbers. — Jake Ciely, Fantasy senior writer

Mark Davis’ reaction to trade

Raiders owner Mark Davis arrived at The Whitley Atlanta Buckhead Hotel for the NFL fall owners’ meetings Tuesday shortly after Adams was traded. Once the meetings were over, he spoke to reporters about the trade and said he wasn’t happy to see Adams go, but he was pleased with how general manager Tom Telesco handled the trade.

“It’s part of this life in football,” Davis said. “Players come and go. If things don’t work out, they don’t work out. Tom Telesco did a good job today of making sure that we move forward in the future with as little distraction as possible.”

When asked why things didn’t pan out for Adams, Davis defaulted to the discernment of Telesco and coach Antonio Pierce.

“I leave these decisions up to the general manager and the head coach,” Davis said. “They make the football decisions. I consult with them and I might play devil’s advocate a lot of times, but they make the decisions and they make the final decision.”

The Raiders could’ve potentially received a better trade package in return for Adams if they offered to pay down his base salary, but they were unwilling to do so according to league sources. That decision would have required Davis to make the final decision given he’d have to cut the check for it.

“I can’t really get into discussing the parts of the trade,” Davis said when asked why the Raiders didn’t offer to pay any of Adams’ base salary as part of the trade negotiations. — Tashan Reed, Raiders beat writer

Required reading

(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)