Again in quarterback turmoil and likely headed toward their 13th straight season without a playoff berth, the Jets will need to regroup in 2024. Even if Aaron Rodgers‘ long-rumored comeback from Achilles surgery may not end up happening this season, he remains under contract — at a fully guaranteed rate — in 2024.
With Rodgers expected to play a 20th season, the Jets are likely to revisit their attempt to acquire Davante Adams. Looking into Adams this summer and at the trade deadline, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter notes the Jets have been monitoring the Raiders wide receiver since acquiring Rodgers in April. The embattled AFC East team will be expected to pursue an Adams trade once again next year.
Adams, who will turn 31 next month, is in the second season of a five-year, $140MM contract. The Raiders gave Adams this deal upon acquiring him via trade in March 2022. At that time, Rodgers attempted to convince the All-Pro wide receiver to stay with the Packers. Adams also admitted the Packers’ extension offer bettered the Raiders’ but also indicated Rodgers’ uncertain status in Green Bay steered him away. At the time, the Raiders employed former Adams teammate and longtime friend Derek Carr. Major changes have come to pass in Las Vegas this year, however, complicating Adams’ status with the Raiders.
Cutting Carr and signing Jimmy Garoppolo, the Raiders have already benched the latter. While the team is 2-2 with Aidan O’Connell at the helm this season, the rookie threw three interceptions in a loss to the Dolphins on Sunday. Still, Adams has been more prominently involved in the offense compared to the final weeks of the short-lived Josh McDaniels–Dave Ziegler regime. After voicing frustration with his role in the offense in McDaniels’ final days running the show, the 10th-year veteran has been more content with this Raiders operation. But trade rumors figure to persist.
Although the McDaniels-Ziegler pair made Adams off-limits in trades before the deadline, the Raiders may well have new leadership by the time Adams is again eligible to be dealt. Antonio Pierce and interim GM Champ Kelly are in auditions, but organizations generally do not take interim tags off leaders. Neither Pierce nor Kelly is out of the mix, but both staying will be the less likely scenario than Mark Davis hiring a new HC-GM tandem. Such a decision would seemingly move the Raiders closer to dealing Adams.
It would cost the Raiders $23.6MM in dead money to trade Adams before June 1 of next year, and Schefter adds the Raiders’ decision on their top weapon will also hinge on how this season finishes. Sitting on 741 receiving yards (just 13th in the NFL), Adams is on pace for his fifth 1,000-yard season. Though, he led the NFL in touchdown receptions in 2020 and ’22 and topped 1,500 yards with Carr last year. Adams’ stat line could certainly determine if he asks out of Vegas, and a New York move would make sense.
Despite signing Allen Lazard and Mecole Hardman in free agency, the Jets chased Odell Beckham Jr. largely because of Rodgers’ wishes. The talented wideout instead signed with the Ravens, punting on a Jets visit due to the $15MM guarantee Baltimore proposed. Adams’ accomplishments lap his 2014 classmate’s, and Rodgers would almost definitely be interested in the Jets adding the marquee pass catcher to their Garrett Wilson-dependent receiver stable. Wilson’s 641 receiving yards lead all Jets wideouts by nearly 400; no other Gang Green receiver — amid Zach Wilson‘s continued struggles — has topped 300 this season.
Following his trade to the Jets, Rodgers took issue with the Packers’ approach to Adams’ extension leading up to the blockbuster trade. Rodgers dropped from first to 26th in QBR last year, with the Packers having also let Marquez Valdes-Scantling leave in free agency. An Adams-Wilson duo would represent one of the more talented tandems in recent memory, and although hurdles exist to a reunion, it almost certainly will be a Jets consideration once the season ends.