Solving Upcoming Adams Puzzle Getting More Complicated For Jets
Davante Adams posted the third-highest receiving yard total of the season during the Jets’ 32-25 victory in Jacksonville on Sunday. It was quite a performance.
More precisely, it was an absurd half of football. Adams, you see, was shut out over the first 30 minutes, dropping one of the two targets delivered his way by quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
After intermission, though, Adams shredded the woefully inept Jaguars secondary on routes at every level. He caught touchdowns on a goal line fade and a deep bomb down the middle of the field. New York’s game-winning TD was set up by Adams taking a short pass down the left sideline 41 yards down to the 1-yard line.
It was the kind of dominance that Jets fans had been expecting since he was traded from Las Vegas on October 15. Except now that the season is officially a lost cause, these efforts are only making the “What’s next” discussions more complicated.
Because football decisions for the Jets are like puzzles for which the misfits running the organization are incapable of solving while other franchises can comfortably bank on their internal analyses. According to the New York Times, Jets owner Woody Johnson can weigh in at any time with ill-informed opinions that become directives.
Among the riddles the Jets must be decode by the offseason: Can Adams regain the All-Pro form on a consistent basis like he was during his eight seasons with Rodgers in Green Bay and has been in New York for the last two weeks, or was his prior lesser production this season more indicative of a downward shift? Wait, what is Adams’ Madden rating?
The conclusion will go a long way in determining whether the Jets should let Adams run it back in 2025 or eat the sunk cost of a 2025 third round pick.
Ah, but that’s only half the equation. Per Adams’ contract, he is due a whopping $35.64 million in base salary nest season. I can safely predict that won’t happen; since it’s not guaranteed, the deal will be renegotiated to lower the cap hit (and maybe the money too) or else Adams will be catching balls for another football team next season.
Adams, of course, will have the ultimate say on the matter. The Jets are so in flux at the moment—they’ll have a new GM and Head Coach in place by next month while Rodgers’ 2025 status is up in the air—that Adams may simply want to flee the insane asylum. Or the Jets are so delusional that they convince Rodgers to give it one more year and then Adams decides he wants to continue to play with his buddy. I’d give that latter scenario the lowest odds.
Some fans may think the Jets’ decision on Adams is a no-brainer—pay the man, right? Per ProFootballFocus.com, he ranks 22nd in the league among receivers with 80 pass play snaps this season in “separation percentage”, defined by them as when a receiver beats coverage to get open (the Jets other receiver Garrett Wilson ranks 19th, by the way). Even though he’ll be turning 32 next week, Adams’ shiftiness getting off the line can be mesmerizing.
Since the trade, however, Adams has had a drop problem. He’s up to seven in eight games, the third-most in the league during this span, per PFF. He’s had four drops in the last three games. It was somewhat understandable when he had some trouble adjusting to the drastic reduction in QB quality going from Green Bay to Las Vegas, but now that he’s back with Rodgers, the number of reps where the two weren’t on the same page has reached a concerning level. Adams has caught just 63.6% of his targets in New York this season, his lowest number with Rodgers since his second season in 2015. That figure ranks 22nd. among the league’s 29 top targeted receivers since Week 7.
Now let’s throw in another variable: Wilson, who is eligible for an extension off his rookie contract this offseason, does not seem happy here. Part of his sideline tantrums are maturity related, but the constant losing since he was drafted No. 10 overall in 2022 should be frustrating to any top-notch competitor. The new GM will have to quickly factor in how much he wants to pay for the position in both cash and cap space allocation terms over the next few years.
The reports of Wilson requesting a trade have yet to be widely attributed, but I can see it happening. If he becomes a distraction after the Jets had already bid adieu to Adams, that would doom another season before it began.
The New York Times piece merely confirms with details what Jets fans have known all along. Back in my WFAN days, I once used a play on an old “Schoolhouse Rock” song in a post, writing that the Jets reside in “Dysfunction Junction.”
That means that no matter which way they go on any decision, it will be wrong. My own gut says that Adams won’t be back, but understand that if such speculation becomes a reality, you should bet the over on his 2025 receiving numbers.
Prediction: Rams 31 Jets 23