The Jets adding another former wide receiver who had a great deal of success with quarterback Aaron Rodgers from his time with the Green Bay Packers has been a familiar story throughout the past two offseasons.
And after a dispiriting two seasons for the Las Vegas Raiders, the prospect of Davante Adams – the best of the receivers Rodgers ever played with – being that player has grown. And there was some fuel added to the speculative fire by way of morning cable talk show chatter earlier this week.
But before there could be any determination if there was smoke let alone fire, the wide receiver distanced himself from those rumors.
“I’m actively on the Raiders,” Adams said on Wednesday’s episode of Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast, via The New York Post. “What do I look like sitting here talking to other people about being on another team? And that’s how I still feel about it right now.
“I’m locked in with the Raiders and I really feel good about this team, and as far as I know they feel good about me,” Adams continued. “If that ever changes, if that got to a point where they weren’t feeling the same way, I ain’t done playing, so obviously we would figure out whatever we needed to figure out.”
The 31-year-old is entering the third year of a five-year, $140 million deal he signed with Las Vegas.
In addressing the rumors on the podcast, Adams said that if he would be “reunited with anybody” or “relocated” anywhere it would be to be with Rodgers, but he is not asking for that to happen and the rumors are not coming because of things he has put out there.
“But that’s not really my — there was a lot of that stuff going on last year in the media and them asking, ‘What are you gonna do about this? Are you thinking about going here?’ And they talk about whatever without me even being involved in it,” he said. “And it ended up getting all the way to the point where it got in the locker room, and people was thinking that I was the driving force, and I’m like, y’all just don’t understand, man.
“When you — and I hate to say it like this because it makes me sound like I’m trying to put myself on a pedestal — but when you’re a certain level of player, it don’t have to come from you, and oftentimes it’s not coming from you.”
After former Packer Allen Lazard had a very disappointing debut season for Gang Green, the Jets added Mike Williams – coming off an ACL injury – to be the team’s No. 2 weapon behind Garrett Wilson.
That didn’t stop this latest round of chatter from kicking off on Tuesday when Dan Orlovsky, the former NFL quarterback turned ESPN pundit, speculated that a trade to the Jets was all but a “done deal.”
“At some point, Davante Adams plays for the Jets this season,” he said on ESPN’s morning program.
“The reason why I say that is this: Have you watched Netflix, the ‘Receiver’ stuff, have you seen the frustration from Davante Adams?” Orlovsky said. “It’s not that much better of a situation (now.) The only reason it wouldn’t happen is if he would feel bad about leaving Antonio Pierce, their new head coach.”
Pierce, the former Giants linebacker, led the Raiders to a 5-4 record after becoming the interim head coach following the firing of Josh McDaniels.
Later on Tuesday, Adams’ agents Kenny Chapman and Frank Bauer issued a statement to ESPN’s Adam Schefter calling Orlovsky’s comments “baseless.”
“This is baseless, unfounded speculation and Davante is expected to be with the Raiders as there has been absolutely no trade talk – period,” the statement read.
In eight seasons with the Packers, Adams tallied 8,121 yards on 669 receptions (12.1 yards per catch) with 73 touchdowns. He had 2,660 yards on 203 receptions (13.1 yards) with 22 touchdowns during his last two seasons with the Raiders.
