Aaron Rodgers tried to manifest a Jets trade for Davante Adams this summer, saying, “I love Davante. I can’t wait to play with him . . . again.”
After 2 1/2 years apart, the players are reunited in New York.
Adams said Wednesday that he told the Raiders he wanted to go to the Jets, who acquired him for a conditional third-round pick that could become a second-rounder based on performance.
“It’s been a rollercoaster for sure,” Adams said, via video from SNY Jets videos. “It’s a weird thing to say that I’m happy, but obviously it was time for a change. This whole thing kind of transpired a little weird, but at the end of the day, we’re in a better place. I think the Raiders are in a better place as well. Everybody can kind of move on. But definitely been a rollercoaster. It was a little bit up and down and left and right, here and there, but we ultimately got it done.”
Adams has 622 catches for 7,590 yards and 69 touchdowns in 108 games with Rodgers, per statmuse.com, and he made the Pro Bowl five times with the Packers. He left the Packers in 2022 to go to the Raiders, and Rodgers left the Packers a year later.
Now, they are back together.
“It’s great just being back, being able to be with my guy,” Adams said. “First and foremost, just being able to spend time with him every day again is something I put a lot of value on. Just having his company. Just having him as my quarterback again, he’s part of why I am who I am and why I turned into the player whether it’s the cerebral approach, the attention to detail, just learning from him and watching him operate and just how dialed in he is at all times. I feel like that has a lot to do with how I ultimately ended up functioning how I do as a player. It’s a good deal, and it’s definitely good to be around him.”
Adams’ representation and the Jets restructured his 2024 salary for cap purposes. The new deal does not alter his salaries of $35.64 million in 2025 and $36.64 million in 2026. Unless the Jets and Adams work out a new contract after the season, the team will release him before the start of the league year.
Adams said he intends this to spend more than one year in New York.
“I hope so. That’s the plan,” he said. “I want to be here. I never go somewhere in hopes of having to find a new home, so that’s the hope.”