Reviewing the film to see whether Davante Adams is worth a blockbuster trade for the New York Jets
It is no secret that the New York Jets are going to be in the market for a wide receiver to pair with Garrett Wilson for the 2024 season. By far, the most widely discussed option is Davante Adams. The Jets attempted to acquire Aaron Rodgers’ longtime teammate at this season’s trade deadline, and all indications are they will make another pursuit this offseason.
Diving back into the 2021 Packers film, it is evident that the chemistry Adams had with Rodgers was truly one of a kind. And while Adams is 31 as he heads into the 2024 season, his 2023 film with the Raiders shows that he could still play at an elite level for a few more years to come.
Today, we’ll look at some plays from Adams’ 2023 and 2021 seasons. Let’s begin with this play from the final game of the 2023 season.
The Broncos come with a zero blitz and the Raiders counter smartly by motioning Adams into his route to ensure he gets a free release.
Adams doesn’t get much separation on this play but he shows off his elite ball-tracking skills. As seen in the screenshot below, Adams shows the ability for him to get his head around and find the football after getting tugged while the ball was in the air. It’s an unbelievable display of hand-eye coordination.
The next clip is a good example of Davante’s ability to still beat man coverage against the best of the best, as he beats Kansas City cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. Sneed did not allow a single touchdown across 90 targets as the nearest defender this season, which is the third-most targets without a touchdown allowed among any player since 2016. Sneed allowed just a single wide receiver to gain more than 40 yards this season – and that was Adams in this game, who beat Sneed for 66 yards on four catches.
Tae’s release game is still arguably the best in the league, as shown on this play. He stutter-hop releases, which does not allow Sneed to press him well off the line. Adams sells the route well and creates loads of separation on the deep over route for the easy third-down conversion. On a pass thrown behind him, Adams casually makes a spinning catch; a better ball would probably have led to a bigger gain, but Tae does a good job getting upfield.
In another clip from this season, Adams shows elite ball-tracking ability and breakaway speed.
The Raiders dial up a max protection deep shot to Adams here. The Dolphins are in quarters coverage and he has three DBs running after him. Adams takes the contact from the DB closest to him and finishes the catch for a TD. He still has very good speed for his age along with elite hands, and as we know, the Jets are severely lacking in explosive plays from the passing game. Adams has shown that he is still an elite option down the field.
Next is a rep from 2021, in the Packers’ Week 16 game against the Browns.
It’s one of my favorite plays from Adams. As described by Aaron Rodgers himself:
“On the touchdown to break the record, his was a really freelance route. That’s what makes him so great is his creativity within the system. When I looked over at him on the left, I was almost going to give him a signal to make sure we are on the same page, but something – intuition, whatever – said don’t do it. Just trust it. And he didn’t do what basically is on-the-paper football offense. He lost his guy quickly and they brought empty pressure. He did exactly what I would have wanted to tell him but there wasn’t even a signal that could’ve even come close to the beauty and the creativity of that route. It’s one of those fun moments.”
Perfectly said. It’s third-and-8 in the red zone, and the Browns are bringing a zero blitz. It looks like Rodgers thinks about giving Adams a slight hand signal before the snap and then just decides to call for the snap. The Browns have a free runner and Rodgers releases the ball before Tae turns his head, but he and Tae are on the same page and connect for the TD.
Here’s more evidence of the feel the two have for each other.
The play is double crossers, one that Matt LaFleur loves in the red zone, which is picked up well from the Vikings here. Rodgers extends the play and Adams is bracketed, but he breaks towards the back of the end zone and Rodgers throws a laser past the DB for the ad-lib TD.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to be able to have the ability to ad-lib and improvise, especially when a play breaks down in the red zone. These two are so tuned-in with one another in scramble drills and in everything they do with each other on the football field.
If Adams is acquired, the Jets’ offense will be elevated not only because of his contributions but the attention he will take from Garrett Wilson as well.
No matter what, the Jets must make a move to acquire a high-end wide receiver in the offseason. With the short window the Jets have to contend in the AFC, the answer is clearly Davante Adams.
