Sometimes marriages end in divorce. And sometimes those divorces lead to reconciliation and a renewal of vows. Such is apparently the case with Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams, teammates for eight years on the Green Bay Packers – before Adams left in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders, eager to play alongside college buddy Derek Carr – and now reunited again with the New York Jets.
In a widely expected move – speculated on for months actually, even vaguely by Rodgers – Adams was traded by the Silver and Black to Gang Green on Tuesday, just hours after the Jets’ Monday night loss to the Buffalo Bills.
What does it all mean?
Here the winners, losers and grades for this year’s biggest – to date – trade:
Much as he’d wanted to be in Sin City – and on the team he'd rooted for as a kid – his departure had felt fairly inevitable ever since the Raiders unceremoniously cut the cord with Carr, the franchise’s all-time leading passer, before the 2022 season even concluded. Adams stewed as the situation festered for more than a year, his frustration boiling over at times on the field. But now he’s back with Rodgers, the man who threw him so many touchdown passes, back-shoulder completions and flowers given how seamlessly the two worked together for nearly a decade. Adams is almost 32, and Rodgers is almost 41. But even in the sub-prime phases of their careers, there might just be enough time to spark what’s still a very talented – if turbulent – Jets squad.
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As dour as he looked after being beaten by Buffalo, in a game the Jets probably should have won, Rodgers was all smiles Tuesday – literally given his obviously lightened mood once he made his weekly appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show." While it would theoretically be unfair to expect Adams to fit right in with New York, he’ll need to hit the ground running, however tender the hamstring that’s kept him sidelined the past three weeks is – he said it “feels great" during a surprise appearance with Rodgers on McAfee's air – and there’s certainly some component of his absence that had to do with his unavoidable conclusion that he needed to be leaving Las Vegas.
But Adams should be familiar with most of the concepts from (effectively demoted) OC Nathaniel Hackett’s playbook given they also worked together in Green Bay and mostly needs to catch on to what Rodgers and newly installed play caller Todd Downing are emphasizing now. For the past two weeks – both Jets losses – Rodgers has gambled the team’s hopes, with victory in the balance, with throws to big-bodied WR Mike Williams. Both times he was intercepted on what turned out to be his final pass of the game, Williams looking overmatched and/our out of position in each scenario and explicitly drawing darts from his quarterback in Monday’s postgame news conference. It’s worth wondering how things might have been different had Adams been the targeted receiver in those high-leverage spots.
"I love Davante Adams. I can't wait to play with him,” Rodgers said at a celebrity golf tournament over the summer. “Again."
Time's now, fellas.
With Adams gone, one fewer reason to worry as they remain on super-cruise toward their ninth straight AFC West title … and maybe much more. Their first date of two with the Adams-less Raiders is in 12 days.
Vacated by WR Garrett Wilson for No. 5 following the disastrous 2023 campaign, casual onlookers immediately viewed it as a welcome mat for Adams, who has exclusively worn 17 in the NFL – though the three-time All-Pro will have to pry it from rookie Malachi Corley, who might be about to make his biggest contribution in a freshman campaign that’s only seen him catch one pass. As for those Jets fans who already have No. 17 in their closets? All that's required is some masking tape over the Wilson nameplate.
The Raiders' first-round tight end may not love the increased defensive attention, though it hasn’t stopped him from catching 17 passes for 168 yards and a TD the past two weeks, when Adams was out of the lineup. The competition for 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year is already steep, but Bowers – now likely to be the unquestioned focal point of Las Vegas’ offense – should at least see his odds improve.
Unlike recently ousted head coach Robert Saleh, the Jets GM has managed to keep his job – perhaps rightly so given he has, by most accounts, constructed an eminently talented roster. He's leveled up again with the addition of Adams for the reasonable price of a conditional third-round pick, and the Jets had an extra one in their quiver – though it could upgrade to a Round 2 choice, per reports, depending on how Adams and the team fare. The perennial Pro Bowler is signed through the 2026 season but, with no guarantees beyond this year, Douglas will have options in 2025, when Adams’ base salary balloons beyond $35 million.
With 67 targets, he’s far and away the NFL leader in that metric. Adams’ arrival should not only ease Wilson's workload but maybe create more of a Batman and Batman dynamic forcing defenses to roll coverage somewhere – WR3 Allen Lazard now sliding into what could be a very effective Robin role, too. And while Wilson’s touches are bound to decrease, he should be in a position to maximize them with much greater efficiency given he was only averaging 9.7 yards per reception.
The Raiders’ rookie head coach has one fewer headache to ponder in what’s already devolving into a lost season. But getting a good return on the Adams investment now should help Pierce and first-year GM Tom Telesco acquire and/or support the franchise quarterback they so desperately need to find in 2025.
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The Adams headache appears, at least in part, one the inexperienced HC invited by breaking, arguably, Rule No. 1 for someone in an NFL leadership position – stay off social media. As the interim boss in 2023, Pierce was able to rally the Raiders to five wins over their final nine contests. Won’t be easy to match that feat this time around, especially without a talent like Adams.
He’s long espoused a priority on winning, but a 24-year-old in his third NFL season will also have to learn how to cope with another alpha in the receiver room. He’ll also have to avoid the narrative that Adams’ presence will inhibit his growth at a critical time, Wilson, the 2022 Offensive Rookie of the Year, at a key point early in his career given next spring is the first time he’s eligible for the major payday that’s bound to eventually come his way. He’s struggled at times to get on the same page of Rodgers’ very complex book, and now Wilson will have to be at his best – likely more so off the field – as he deals with another weighty dynamic in this ever-shifting Jets tableau.
He’s dealing with an injured oblique. Again. And he’s going to try – again – to lead the New Orleans Saints out of the wilderness without another chance to play with his pal Adams … assuming Carr, currently watching rookie QB Spencer Rattler do his job, isn’t effectively deactivated for the second time in three seasons.
Clearly laboring to regain top form a year after undergoing ACL reconstruction, the veteran receiver is almost surely now one and done with the Jets and very likely to find himself getting scant snaps if he remains on the roster in what appears to be, at best, a WR4 role for a player who doesn’t add value on special teams.
You could fairly argue that Telesco should have moved faster on this front rather than stubbornly maintaining over the offseason that Adams remained a core part of the Raiders’ foundation and claiming he wasn't entertaining offers. What would Adams have cost in March? We’ll never know. But we do know that Telesco salvaged a comparable return to what other accomplished wideouts, namely Stefon Diggs and Keenan Allen, fetched in the offseason – and Las Vegas doesn't have to pay anything further on the five-year, $140 million deal that could run for another two full seasons beyond this one. And not having to deal with Adams’ contract next spring gives the Raiders added flexibility to dive into what quite obviously has disintegrated into a roster that needs to be almost completely overhauled.
So this trade of a conditional third-rounder seems much likelier to pan out positively than the one for still-MIA pass rusher Haason Reddick. Right, Joe? In all seriousness, Douglas and the Jets needed to make this move if there’s to be any chance of salvaging the 2024 Jets specifically and the Rodgers experiment writ large. If it works, no one will mind cashing out another Day 2 selection. If it goes horribly awry, Douglas – or whoever is in his seat four months from now – can seamlessly shift into rebuild or reload mode and strip the roster of older veterans while focusing on a foundation built with the likes of Wilson, CB Sauce Gardner, DT Quinnen Williams, RB Breece Hall, LB Jermaine Johnson and other youngsters that should remain in the building over the long run.
***Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.
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