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Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff WriterOct 15, 2024, 10:14 AM ET
- Rich Cimini is a staff writer who covers the New York Jets and the NFL at ESPN. Rich has covered the Jets for over 30 years, joining ESPN in 2010. Rich also hosts the Flight Deck podcast. He previously was a beat writer for the New York Daily News and is a graduate of Syracuse University. You can follow him via Twitter @RichCimini.
Determined to save their season from ruin and preserve their hopes of ending a half-century Super Bowl drought, the New York Jets finalized a blockbuster trade for star wide receiver Davante Adams on Tuesday.
The Las Vegas Raiders received a 2025 conditional third-round draft pick in the trade. That pick could improve to a second-round selection, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, if Adams is a first- or second-team All-Pro this season or is on the Jets’ active roster for the AFC Championship Game or Super Bowl.
The trade reunites Adams and quarterback Aaron Rodgers to re-create one of the most dangerous duos in recent NFL history.
“We’re back, man,” Adams said while briefly joining Rodgers at the Jets’ facility in Florham Park, New Jersey, for the quarterback’s weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “We’re back.”
“Obviously, I’m really excited,” Rodgers said, adding: “It’s on us now. We’re going all-in.”
| 2nd-Most | ||
|---|---|---|
| Targets | 907 | 689 |
| Rec. | 615 | 487 |
| Rec. yards | 7,517 | 6,919 |
| Rec. TD | 68 | 65 |
| — ESPN Research |
Adams restructured his contract to lower his salary cap number this season to $3.21 million, sources told Schefter. Two voidable years were added to the deal, and the two sides now will discuss his future in New York after this season.
Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich was noncommittal on whether Adams will make his Jets debut on Sunday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Adams sounded optimistic about his chances, saying his injured hamstring is “feeling great.” He missed the past three games.
“I hope so, but it’s too early to assess right now,” Ulbrich said of Adams’ chances of playing in Pittsburgh.
A source, however, told Schefter that Adams is expected to make his Jets debut against the Steelers on Sunday night.
The Jets (2-4), losers of three straight, made the agreement before Monday night’s 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Adams took a red-eye flight to New Jersey, landing early Tuesday morning. He went to the Jets’ facility to take a physical, finalizing the trade.
“[He’s] not only an elite player, as we all know, but the relationship with him and Aaron just takes his value to a whole other space for us,” Ulbrich said.
In a span of seven days, the Jets fired coach Robert Saleh and made one of the splashiest trades in team history amid owner Woody Johnson’s go-for-broke edict for 2024. At the NFL league meeting in Atlanta on Tuesday, Johnson was almost incredulous when asked whether the season is salvageable.
“Salvageable? We’re going to kick — you can add the words after that,” he told reporters. “We’re going to do really well.”
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Adams, who turns 32 on Dec. 24, is a six-time Pro Bowl selection who achieved his greatest success with Rodgers as his quarterback with the Green Bay Packers. From 2014 to 2021, they combined for 615 completions, 7,529 yards and 68 touchdowns. They were the NFL’s second-most prolific tandem over that span, trailing only Matt Ryan and Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons.
A Rodgers-Adams reunion seemed inevitable, with Rodgers fanning the flames in July. At a celebrity golf tournament, he said, “I love Davante. I can’t wait to play with him … again.” Rodgers lobbied for the trade but claimed he didn’t know it was happening until 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, when he was driving home from MetLife Stadium and got a call from Adams.
Adams’ two-plus seasons in Las Vegas will come to a tumultuous end, with Adams falling out of favor with coach Antonio Pierce and eventually requesting a trade. He identified the Jets as his No. 1 choice, and he got his wish.
Jets general manager Joe Douglas showed interest in Adams at the 2023 trading deadline but was rebuffed by the Raiders. He never lost interest, sources said, checking periodically on Adams’ potential availability. This time, Douglas moved swiftly to get it done.
Adams joins a crowded receiving corps that includes emerging star Garrett Wilson, Mike Williams and Allen Lazard. The Jets also have Xavier Gipson, who handles punt and kickoff returns, and rookie Malachi Corley. It’ll be up to passing game coordinator Todd Downing, put in charge of the offense amid last week’s coaching shake-up, to make it work.
“I think we’ll figure that out in the next couple of days, how all these pieces fit together,” Ulbrich said. “It’s an exciting and a good problem to have because we’ve got a lot of different guys with a lot of different skill sets that can do a lot of different things. Todd and his staff will have some sleepless nights with some good problems.”
The Jets believe Adams’ presence will create opportunities for Wilson, who has been drawing double coverage. Wilson and Rodgers struggled to connect early in the season, but Wilson is coming off his two most productive games — combining for 21 catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns. He’s the most-targeted player in the league, but some of those targets now figure to go to Adams.
“I think it’s really going to help Garrett out,” Rodgers said of Adams’ presence.
Williams (10 catches for 145 yards) has struggled to produce and could be the odd man out. On Monday night, he ran the wrong route on the Jets’ final play, according to Rodgers. In his postgame news conference, Rodgers said Williams should’ve run a vertical route instead of breaking it off, and the result was an interception. It was the second straight game in which Rodgers’ final pass was intercepted — Williams was targeted on both.
The Jets could look to trade Williams, whom they signed to a one-year, $10 million contract in the offseason.
Adams was initially acquired by the Raiders in a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers on March 17, 2022, with the Raiders sending first- and second-round draft picks to the Packers so Adams, who grew up in Palo Alto, California, could not only be closer to home after seven seasons in Green Bay, but also reunite with his college quarterback at Fresno State, Derek Carr. But Carr was benched with two games to go in an eventual 6-11 season and was cut that offseason.
Still, Adams was named first-team All-Pro in 2022, catching 100 passes for 1,516 yards and a league-leading 14 touchdowns. A year later, with Jimmy Garoppolo, Brian Hoyer and Aidan O’Connell at quarterback, Adams had 103 catches for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns.
With Gardner Minshew at quarterback this season, Adams had 18 receptions for 209 yards and one touchdown in three games.
The Raiders will carry a dead cap charge of $13.67 million in 2024 and $15.7 million in 2025 after trading Adams, according to Spotrac.com.
ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.
