FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Aaron Rodgers received a phone call from a close friend a little after midnight on Monday and, still irritated after a 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills, he ignored it.
“I wasn’t in the mood,” Rodgers said.
His friend called again around 1 a.m.; this time Rodgers answered it. Since last year, Davante Adams and Rodgers would get on the phone after most of Adams’ Las Vegas Raiders games, often on FaceTime, and they’d recap what happened, what they saw, what they missed, what they needed to know. That’s how the conversation started on Monday, and they chatted about the Bills game for a while before Adams finally got to the real reason he was calling.
“I’m getting on a plane,” Adams told him.
“My heart dropped,” Rodgers said. “I was like: To where?”
New York.
“It definitely put him in a much better mood,” Adams said on Wednesday at the Jets facility, his first day with his new team.
On Tuesday, the Raiders traded Adams to the Jets in exchange for a conditional third-round pick, a deal that has felt inevitable since Rodgers became a Jet — and as the Raiders endured coaching changes and poor quarterback play. Now, Adams reunites with his favorite quarterback, together forming one of the most prolific quarterback-receiver pairings in the NFL in eight years together with the Green Bay Packers.
Davante Adams said it’s been a “rollercoaster” but felt like it was time for a change. He thinks both he and the Raiders are better off. pic.twitter.com/IWhO0V0oLE
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) October 16, 2024
On Monday night, Adams took a redeye flight from Vegas to New Jersey. By Wednesday morning, he was riding with Rodgers into work, teammates again, reminiscing about old times and getting up to speed ahead of Adams’ debut against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night. Adams is staying at Rodgers’ house for the time being. On Tuesday night, they went over the famously intricate hand signals Rodgers uses to communicate with his receivers. Rodgers said Adams is already 95 percent caught up to speed, even though they haven’t played together since Adams was traded from Green Bay to the Raiders after the 2021 season.
“Very surreal,” Rodgers said. “He sat next to me in the team meeting today and I just turned to him and said: ‘Man, how crazy is this?’ It’s something when we get together in the offseasons we joke about, but it never seemed like a possibility. He has a presence about him that’s palpable when he steps onto the field or into a meeting and obviously he brings clout and accolades from someone who has been at the zenith of this profession. It’s fun to have him.”
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As the Jets arrive at a crucial juncture of the season, the hope is that Rodgers and Adams can recapture their magic when the games start. With a 2-4 record and a shrinking margin for error, the Jets acquired Adams to help them get back on the right track. Over the last three games, the Jets are averaging 15 points per game and in the red zone they’ve scored only three touchdowns on nine trips. Rodgers has thrown four interceptions in the last two games — only the second time he’s thrown that many picks in back-to-back games since 2008. The other time it happened was in 2022, his first year after the Packers traded Adams. Rodgers’ completion percentage this season, 61.8, is a career-low.
“One of the main things Aaron and I have is our connection, the nonverbals, reading body language and just understanding how his mind works,” Adams said. “A lot of those small things are key to having success. You look at some of the plays that didn’t get converted this year, this is a 2-4 football team but this could easily be 5-1 if they did it the right way and clicked on some opportunities that are out there. It’s never been far away.”
Rodgers thinks Adams’ presence will particularly help Wilson, who struggled at the start of the season going against No. 1 cornerbacks and double teams, but had come on strong the last two weeks (21 catches, 208 yards, two touchdowns).
“(Adams) can do a lot of different things,” Rodgers said. “He can play all three positions … he’s got a high football IQ and now it’s going to help (Wilson) … now you have to pick your poison, double them both … ‘Tae has been a monster in the red zone over the years. A lot of on-schedule and off-schedule touchdowns. He can help teach the young guys who are willing and eager to listen and learn because he’s a master of route running and releases and always working on his craft.”
Rodgers, of course, will need to find ways to distribute the ball in an offense that is now loaded with weapons — Adams, Wilson, running back Breece Hall, wide receiver Allen Lazard and, if he’s not traded, wide receiver Mike Williams. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich called it a “cool problem to have.”
“It’s going to give us an opportunity to have more flexibility with where we move these guys around,” Ulbrich said. “It gives us a lot of freedom to play around with where these guys line up.”
Rodgers’ response to the idea that Wilson or Hall might not be happy with fewer targets: So what.
“It’s about winning,” Rodgers said. “Those guys are going to get theirs. Most important thing is winning. I throw it to the open guy … Bringing Davante in, he’s healthy and out there he’s going to get opportunities. But the way the defense plays dictates where the ball goes … I think Breece should be real happy, I think the line should be real happy and I think (Wilson) should be real happy.”
Still, it’s fair to wonder how everyone will react, especially considering how Rodgers has historically funneled targets Adams’ way. In 2020, Rodgers told “The Ringer” that Adams was first in his progression on 80 percent of the Packers’ passing concepts.
Even though Adams is turning 32 in December, when healthy he’s still one of the best and most productive receivers in the NFL. Last year, even as the Raiders shuffled through Jimmy Garoppolo and Aidan O’Connell at quarterback, Adams still produced 103 catches for 1,114 yards and eight touchdowns. On Netflix’s “Receiver,” Adams was shown expressing his frustration with Garoppolo — and it seems his feelings about the Raiders’ quarterback situation didn’t improve in 2024, as Las Vegas rolled forward with Gardner Minshew before turning back to O’Connell last week. Neither quarterback is Aaron Rodgers.
In Week 2, Adams had a vintage performance in an upset road win over the Baltimore Ravens: nine catches, 110 yards and a touchdown. The Raiders beat the Browns in Week 4 without Adams, dealing with a hamstring injury that kept him out in Weeks 5 and 6 as well. But the day after the Browns game, Adams requested a trade.
Rodgers said he was hopeful the Jets would trade for Adams at that point, but that he didn’t feel the need to push general manager Joe Douglas to do it.
“I didn’t really need to,” Rodgers said. “There had been conversations for a long time. Joe and I have a real flowing constant conversation and I think that he knew if ‘Tae was available I’d love to get him. I didn’t need to do any convincing because Joe loved Davante as well … I didn’t have to do any extra recruiting or nudging or anything. Joe knows what he’s doing, he doesn’t need my input. If he needed any, I would’ve told him the type of guy Davante is.”
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Adams called the process a “rollercoaster.”
“It’s a weird thing to say that I’m happy, but obviously it was time for a change and this whole thing transpired a little weird, but at the end of the day, we’re in a better place,” Adams said. “I think the Raiders are in a better place as well. Everybody can move on.”
From Adams’ perspective, a divorce from the Raiders was better for both parties, and much of that seems to be derived from Adams’ frustration with the quarterback play in Las Vegas.
“All the fans and everybody associated with the Raiders, they see everything,” Adams said. “They see a trade demand and just think, ‘he wants out and he’s quitting on the team.’ I don’t want that helpless feeling of feeling like I’m on the field and — not every game is going to be a 100-yard game, a 150-or 200-yard game — but I want to feel like I can impact the game every time I touch the field. Just having the confidence that I’ll be able to make some plays and change the game if need be, versus getting out on the field and feeling like we need too many things to go right in order for me to be successful… sometimes you gotta make it easier and get to a situation that allows you to be yourself.”
When Adams was asked to expand on the idea that the Raiders would be better off without a Pro Bowl wide receiver, Adams called it a “great question,” said that he talked about that with Raiders coach Antoinio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco, and then said “let me choose my words carefully here.”
“I think the usage sometimes and the way you go about things and the idea of how you trying to get the ball to certain people, if it’s not working, typically,” Adams said, then paused. “A lot of the success me and Aaron had, we were on the same page. He and I, whether it was the signal he gave changing the play or knowing when the ball was going to come out, understanding that just because you’re trying to double team (a receiver) doesn’t mean you’re covered, you can always beat a safety with a ball. Just because they want to line up with the safety and try to play Cover-2, we don’t just shut it down and move on. Sometimes you gotta 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 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 was — get me to a place where I’ve got a lot of familiarity with this offense and the quarterback. He understands how I see the game and how I see the ball thrown and all those things and sometimes he can make it easier.”
Adams was unhappy in Las Vegas. Rodgers is unhappy with the way the Jets have played lately. But they’re happy together.
“It’s great, being back, being able to be with my guy,” Adams said. “Being able to spend time with him every day again is something I put a lot of value on is having his company. Having him as my quarterback again, I mean, he was part of why I am who I am.”
(Top photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)