The Packers’ trade of Davante Adams reunited the All-Pro wide receiver with his college quarterback while stripping Aaron Rodgers of his top weapon. The recently dealt wideout confirmed this deal did not come about because of Packers financial stinginess.
Green Bay tagged Adams and presented a more lucrative extension offer than what Adams received from the Raiders, according to the ninth-year receiver. Adams signed a five-year, $141.5MM deal — then a receiver-record figure — to reunite with ex-Fresno State teammate Derek Carr. The eight-year Packer delved into the reasons behind the decision to change teams.
Adams, 29, said last year the uncertainty surrounding Rodgers’ Green Bay future affected his extension talks with the team. The new Raiders playmaker confirmed this week Rodgers’ status status, even after the reigning MVP’s landmark extension, played a role in the trade. Not knowing how much longer Rodgers would play helped lead to Adams heading to Vegas, via The Athletic’s Vic Tafur (on Twitter).
Rodgers, 38, signed a record-setting extension in March — more than a week before the Adams trade — but the deal can be viewed as a one-year, $42MM pact. Rodgers has since said retirement is frequently on his mind, and the contract will allow the four-time MVP to revisit his future with the Packers after the season. For all the drama surrounding Rodgers’ status over the past two offseasons, it appears 2023 will bring more. Those headlines no longer affect Adams, who will play with a recently extended Carr. The fellow ninth-year vet is going into his age-31 season.
“We had some honest conversations about my future here, and how long I wanted to play, and his own thoughts about his future and where he wanted to play, live and raise his family,” Rodgers said, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette (via Twitter), of offseason talks between he and Adams. “The team obviously stepped up and made a competitive, or an even more compelling, offer.
“… I’m a little biased, but it’s hard to think of a better player I played with. He had a chance to be the all-time [record-holder] in a lot of categories at receiver for us. I thought that might be a little nugget that would kind of keep him here, but Tae made a decision he thought was best for him and his family, and I can’t fault him for that at all.”
The Packers did well to anticipate Adams’ late-20s surge, signing him to a four-year, $58MM extension late in 2017. That deal came just before the Chiefs’ Sammy Watkins contract caused a shift in the receiver market. Adams made four Pro Bowls on his second Packers pact and is headed to Vegas riding a two-year All-Pro streak. It is unclear what the Packers offered, but the accomplished pass catcher passing on it to team with a less decorated quarterback proved bold. Though, Adams will still rake in considerable cash and play closer to his California home.
“I’ll say it; it was true, OK,” Adams said (via SI.com) of the Packers’ offer being better than the Raiders contract he eventually signed. “But, like I said, there’s more that goes into it. Family is a big part of it for me, so geographically being here it makes it a lot easier for me to stay connected to my family year round. This isn’t Year 2. I’m not necessarily trying to ‘fight for a job’ or anything like that to where you gotta do what you gotta do to stay out there.
“I had the choice, and the choice was for me to come here and raise my family on the West Coast and come out here and have some fun in the sun. It’s hard to explain.”
Derek Carr‘s older brother, David, said during an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show that his brother and Adams had been trying to reunite for years, noting “a couple years ago years ago they were really close to making that happen,” via Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. Derek Carr pushing for Adams is unsurprising, given the Raiders’ receiver turnover and missteps in recent years. The Raiders will throw out an Adams-Hunter Renfrow–Darren Waller trio, while the Packers are left with questions regarding their pass-catching hierarchy.
Watkins is now one of the players the Packers hope can collectively replace Adams, with second-round pick Christian Watson in this mix as well. Green Bay has not ruled out adding another veteran at the position. Given Rodgers’ year-to-year status, acquiring another vet would make sense for the NFC contenders.
I mean Vegas is not atop the list of “best place to raise a family” but ok. Money is money, straight cash homie.
It’s not like living in Vegas means living on the strip.
The people “from” Vegas live in Henderson, NV and leave Vegas to the tourists.
Summerlin is much nicer than Henderson and is only a few miles off the strip. Don’t try to spread false information
He means that he’s closer to other family in CA and also that there is more for his family to do. Not much going on in Green Bay.
I think it was partially about being closer to the west coast for him. But mostly that he didn’t trust Rodgers as far as him continuing on playing. If Rodgers left it would spark full blown rebuild most likely and he wanted no part of that. Can’t blame him
Was it still a higher offer taking into account the absence of state income tax in Nevada?
Probably. Income tax is what? 2-3% or something? I doubt the deals were quite that close.
Bingo, right there is the answer Oooof
This could be seen as an indictment on Jordan Love, to a degree. Adams has watched his development, and Adams’ admitted concern over Rodgers’ future with the team , and his decision to head west, may have something to do with his lack of confidence in Jordan Love.
You’re suggesting Adams decided to join the Raiders because he has more confidence in Jarrett Stidham and Nick Mullens than Jordan Love? Sounds rather ridiculous.
What?? No. They’re saying that Jordan Love could become the QB1 soon if Rodgers decides to retire, which he very well might. LV has Derek Carr who’s a fantastic QB, and Adams’ college teammate, and he’s not planning on leaving the game anytime soon.
Carr is average
@ayers44 / An injury to Carr would make Stidham or Mullens the starter though, so how would that be any better for Adams than running routes for the Packers backup QB?
And if I’m not mistaken, wasn’t there real talk that Carr could have been traded, basically right up to the moment he signed his extension?
Also, I’m a little confused by the reports that Adams was eyeing a move to the Raiders since 2017. If this was the case, why did he sign the 4 year extension that year with GB?
Meh, still think GB got the better end of the deal anyway. Couple high end draft picks and Tae isn’t going to live up to that contract anyway in the last 2-3 years. Most of his prime is behind him and now he has a significantly lesser of a QB throwing to him.
Best of luck to Tae and thanks for the good years and I’m glad he got paid but thank you for helping GB reload as well. The raiders…at best…are the third best AFC team and honestly I think they’re a fringe playoff team at this point….which is what they have been for a while now.
The last couple years of the contract are easy to get out of. None of that money is guaranteed and was used to inflate the value of the deal.
I don’t know, he still looked quite good last year and his game is not built on speed, but rather on his releases and route running. Jerry Rice had a 1,200 yard season at like 42. TO was still having 1,000 yard seasons at 37, Randy Moss had a 1,200 yard season in his 12th year as a starter at 32. Larry Fitzgerald played until 37 and had an 1,100 yard season at 34 in his 14th year as a starter.
You don’t know how long Adams’ prime will be. He’s only 29 with only 109 games logged as the starter.
And those picks were a 1st and 2nd rounder, yes, but they were late in the round since the Raiders were the 5th seed in the AFC, and it was in a notoriously weak draft class for high end talent. Plus the draft is mostly a crap shoot anyway whereas Davante is a proven talent.
Carr is definitely not as good as Rodgers, because nobody is, but he’s still easily in his prime and is definitely one of the most gifted passers in the game with a high football IQ. He’s a top 8 QB in the league and that’s with most of his career having bad offensive lines and lackluster weapons at best. When he had a good line and good weapons in 2016 he was 3rd in MVP voting and had his team as the 2nd seed. Last year until Ruggs was cut he was in the MVP hunt again. The man is about as accurate as anybody at every level of the field.
We’ll see how it goes.
Wisconsin’s personal income tax is almost 8% for someone making Davante’s income. Thus the Packers would have needed to exceed the Las Vegas bid by at least that amount.
It will be interesting to see if Davante’s game drops off this year given: a) just an average QB throwing to him, and b) the “distractions” that living in Vegas have on some people.
I doubt it would be distractions and not the other stuff, plus age and tougher competition.
Who told you Derek Carr was an average QB? They lied. He has this narrative only because he plays in a dumpster fire of an organization with constant turnover of coaches and players. He always plays with a *terrible* defense (except the pretty average defenses of 2016 and 2021 where the Raiders were 11-4 and 10-7 under Carr) and he has had terrible pass catchers most of his career. He is a 3x Pro Bowler from 2015-2017, including being the front runner in 2016 for MVP until breaking his leg in Week 16 and had better years in 2019-2021 but didn’t make the Pro Bowl somehow. He’s constantly rated one of the best deep ball throwers in the game. If Derek played in NE or PIT or BAL, etc then he would have a ring or two and be seen as among the best. But everyone judges QBs on wins even though they’re a very small part of a large team and large organization. They can’t do it all. Just ask Aaron Rodgers.
Carr is second tier – at his best. Average QBs cannot carry a team over the course of a whole season, and that shoe fits Carr perfectly.