The last 72 hours for the New York Jets have been a blur through the eyes of their reunited quarterback-wide receiver duo of Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams, whom Gang Green acquired by trading a conditional third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders earlier in the week.
Rodgers was driving home from a tough 23-20 home loss against the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills, a game in which kicker Greg Zuerlein missed two field goals, when he got a call from Adams telling him the news. Once his all-time favorite target landed, he headed straight for his quarterback’s house where he is staying until he finds a place of his own.
“It was frustrating Monday night,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “A really melliferous moment, call to hear his voice. Monday night, or Tuesday morning because it was almost 1 o’clock. I got to see him on Tuesday, yesterday, and he’s staying with me for the short term, so went right into some of the signals. He was about 95%. He knows the original, to the second iteration to the third and on down. His knowledge of the game is pretty extensive. Obviously, it looks like he’s drank the elixir from the fountain of youth as I watch some of his clips. We went back and watched some old 2014 stuff when he was a rookie, and I lovingly called him ‘Fat Tae’ because he was over 220 [pounds]. Then, he got real serious about his diet and his health and got to under 210. The speed came back, and he became the dynamic player he is today. It’s been a strange 24 hours but really fun to see my friend.”
“It’s been a roller coaster for sure,” Adams said Wednesday, via SportsNet New York. “It’s weird thing to say, that I’m happy, but obviously it was time for a change. This whole thing kind of transpired a little weird, but it’s at the end of the day, we’re in a better place. The Raiders are in a better place as well, and everybody can kind of move on. Definitely been a roller coaster. It’s kind of been up and down. Left and right here and there. We ultimately got it done.”
Adams spent his first eight NFL seasons catching passes from Rodgers as a Green Bay Packer from 2014 to 2021, and the connection that resulted in 68 regular-season touchdowns, the most Rodgers has thrown to any receiver in his career, is now back online with the Jets. Rodgers’ 68 touchdowns to Adams also rank as the third-most by a by a quarterback-receiver duo in the past 30 years, trailing only the Pittsburgh Steelers connection of Ben Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown (74) and the New England Patriots/Tampa Bay Buccaneers connection of Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski (90). It’s something of a dream come true for two of the top players of their generation.
“I turned to him and just said, ‘Man, how crazy is this?'” Rodgers said on Wednesday. “It’s something that when we get together in the offseasons, we joke about, but it never seemed like a possibility or going to happen. So it’s good to be with him.”
After missing his last three games with the Raiders because of hamstring injury, Adams will return to play with Rodgers immediately in Week 7 when New York takes on Pittsburgh on “Sunday Night Football.”
“Definitely, I’ll be able to roll,” Adams said on Wednesday. “I’m feeling good right now, running around today. We had a walkthrough, jogthrough practice today, but it felt good running around.”
Why the Jets and Raiders are better off post-divorce
Almost anyone who is into football, whether it be as a fan, team employee or media member, would agree that the 2024 Raiders are worse off without a three-time, First Team All-Pro receiver in Adams. However, Adams disagrees with that premise, saying that life for Las Vegas offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and whichever quarterback is starting in a given week between 2023 fourth-round pick Aidan O’Connell and journeyman Gardner Minshew will be more simple with him out of the picture.
“I had this talk with some of the guys, Coach [Antonio Pierce] and [general manager] Tom Telesco. I said sometimes if you … just the usage and the way you go about things and the idea of how you’re trying to get the ball to some people, if it’s not working, typically, a lot of the success Aaron and I had was because we were on the same page. … Because they [the defense] want to line up with the safety and try to play Cover Two, we [Rodgers and I] don’t just shut it down and move on,” Adams said, via SNY.
Essentially, the Raiders’ current brand of offense didn’t fit Adams, in the receiver’s mind.
“Sometimes you’ve got to find a way to still make the play work because if you’re just looking for single coverage in order for me to make a play, I won’t be able to make very many plays over the course of a year, just based on how I’m being played by a lot of these defenses. I think some of it is: Get me to a place where I’ve got a lot of familiarity with this offense and the quarterback. He [Rodgers] understands how I see the game and how I see the ball thrown and all those things and sometimes he can make it easier. … Sometimes it can make it easier for you to call plays and execute on third down if you don’t have exotic shells and a bunch of weird stuff to look at.”
His longtime quarterback summed the situation up much more plainly.
“I think it came down to where he wanted to be, and this was at the top of his list,” Rodgers said, via SportsNet New York.
Adams eventually credited Rodgers for developing him as a professional and a player, and he noted he’ll be among a number of familiar faces from his Green Bay days. Outside of Rodgers, those faces include offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, wide receiver Allen Lazard, offensive lineman Jake Hanson and wide receiver Malik Taylor.
“It’s great just being back, being with my guy,” Adams said, via SNY. “First and foremost being able to spend time with him everyday again is something that I put a lot of value on, just having his company. Obviously, having him as my quarterback again. He’s part of why I am who I am, and why I turned into the player, whether it was the cerebral approach, the attention to detail. Just learning from him and watching him operate. Just how dialed in he is at all times. I feel like that has a lot to do with how I ultimately ended up functioning as a player, so it’s a good deal. … A lot of familiar faces in here, a few former Packers. Former Raiders too, so it’s good.
“I mean, I hope so. That’s the plan. I mean, I want to be here. I never go somewhere in hopes of having to find a new home. So that’s the hope.”
The gold standard
Between Adams, 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year Garrett Wilson, running back Breece Hall, running back Braelon Allen and tight Tyler Conklin, Rodgers has a lot of talented playmakers at his disposal in New York. However, they’re still short of his “gold standard.”
“There’s always kind of been this gold standard, which is this picture from Sports Illustrated in 2011,” Rodgers said. “The guys in the picture, it was Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, Randall Cobb was our fifth as a rookie, [tight end] Jermichael Finley. That was the pretty incredible group of skill players. …That was always held up as the standard. This is a really nice skill set as well.”
Now, both Rodgers and Adams are fired up for what the six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver’s presence can do in terms of accelerating the 24-year-old Wilson’s development. Time to take flight.
“I never thought this was possible. Having him [Adams] here, with the ability to pair him with a budding superstar in Garrett Wilson like that’s a pretty special combination,” Rodgers said, via SNY.
“Obviously getting in with Garrett, we talked about this a little over a year ago. Just how we wish we could have played together. I’m a fan of his game obviously the feeling is mutual on his side too. So yeah, here we are now. We have to maximize this and take advantage of it.”
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Author: Garrett Podell
October 16, 2024 | 9:06 pm
