Is a Davante Adams-Aaron Rodgers Reunion the Key to Jets' Super Bowl Run Next Season?

At the trade deadline, the New York Jets reportedly made an effort to both bolster their offense and make their injured veteran quarterback very happy by taking a run at trading for veteran wide receiver Davante Adams.

The Jets were rebuffed by the Las Vegas Raiders. But despite downing the Jets on Sunday night, the reality is the Raiders are heading for a rebuild in 2024. Given the state of the franchise, the team may be more amenable to moving the veteran in an effort to procure additional draft capital in the offseason.

That Adams would make the Jets better isn't in question. But whether that one player and a healthy Rodgers would truly make the Jets a Super Bowl contender in a loaded AFC is another question altogether.

While watching the Jets lose 16-12 to the Raiders on Sunday night, a few things were plainly evident.

The first is that the Jets have an excellent defense—at all three levels. Gang Green has a deep and talented defensive line. One of the best off-ball linebacker duos in the NFL in C.J. Mosley and Quincy Williams. And an excellent secondary led by cornerbacks Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed.

The second is that Greg Zuerlein is a great kicker. We know this because he kicks umpteen field goals every game.

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But that's rather the problem. The Jets lead the NFL in the percentage of their points that come via field goals. They have gone nearly 40 drives without finding the end zone. The offense just cannot score touchdowns. Now, it's easy to point to the quarterback position as the reason for those struggles—there's a reason why the Jets traded for Rodgers in the offseason, only to see the four-time MVP brutally tear his Achilles tendon on the team's first series of the season.

To say that the drop-off from Rodgers to Zach Wilson is precipitous is an understatement. But the New York offense has other problems. One of the main ones is a lack of talent behind Garrett Wilson at wide receiver. Entering Sunday's game, Garrett Wilson had 549 receiving yards. No other player on the Jets had 300. Of Zach Wilson's 37 pass attempts Sunday night, 14 were directed at Garrett Wilson—twice as many as another pass-catcher.

That Adams would add a new dimension to the Jets offense is obvious. His numbers may be down (by his standards) this year, but playing with Rodgers in Green Bay, Rodgers posted 100-plus catches, 1,300-plus yards and double-digit touchdowns in three separate seasons.

Now, there are a few potential roadblocks to an Adams trade. The first is that now-fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler already nixed the idea once. Once a new permanent head coach and GM are named in Las Vegas, they may be every bit as reluctant to deal arguably the team's most dangerous offensive weapon.

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Also, while Adams wasn't the happiest camper in Vegas earlier in the season, As ESPN's Paul Gutierrez wrote, the installation of interim head coach Antonio Pierce appears to have reinvigorated him.

"A.P. is not going to get in there and say, 'Run this play for 'Tae,'" Adams said. "He don't know any of our plays. He's over there coaching linebackers and dealing with the defense. So, I think it's more about just having him shape our minds, getting us ready to go out there. I mean, I'm already ready to run through a wall for that man, so it's a good feeling."

But for argument's sake, let's say the new general manager in Vegas sees the writing on the wall that this isn't a team that's one player away from challenging the Chiefs in the AFC West. Let's say that the Jets are willing to part with enough compensation (including their first-round pick in 2024, most likely) to convince that new GM to make the deal. And let's say that Adams is amenable to changing teams again next year.

After all, he and Rodgers did look pretty chummy on Sunday night.

Pairing Adams and Wilson would give the Jets arguably the best wideout duo in the league—Adams' down 2023 has a lot less to do with his age than the sad state of the quarterback position in Las Vegas. Add in running back Breece Hall, and you have a scary collection of skill-position talent.

What you don't have is a guaranteed trip to New Orleans.

For starters, the health of Rodgers remains a major question mark. There has been chatter that Rodgers could return this season, but with every Jets loss that will become less and less likely. When Rodgers does return, he will be a 39-year-old quarterback coming back from a serious injury whose last full season was...not great.

Is he light-years better than Wilson? Of course. But it was already no sure bet that the Rodgers the Jets were going to get was the one who won four MVP awards. Doubling down that it will be by dealing even more picks (and paying Adams' robust salary) is a risky play.

Also, adding Adams doesn't fix New York's porous offensive line. It can partly be attributed to injuries, but the Jets allowed 32 sacks over the season's first eight games. Trade for Adams, and the Jets have that many fewer resources to address that mess of a line in free agency or the draft.

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Finally, in case you haven't noticed, the AFC is absolutely loaded. The Buffalo Bills, The Miami Dolphins. The Cleveland Browns. The Baltimore Ravens. The Cincinnati Bengals. The Kansas City Chiefs. The Jacksonville Jaguars. All are playoff contenders led by star quarterbacks—and that's without considering rising teams like the Houston Texans or teams like the Los Angeles Chargers that haven't met expectations.

Now, maybe that's an argument for trading for Adams. The "Rodgers window" (if indeed there is one) most assuredly has an expiration date. If the Jets are all-in on getting to the Super Bowl, then doubling down with an Adams deal is an idea with at least some merit if they want to challenge that gauntlet of teams.

But while a hypothetical Adams deal is fun to talk about (and it will be talked about from now right through the spring—bank on it), it doesn't solve all the Jets' problems. It might make the Jets (as a whole) better than some of the teams I just mentioned, it doesn't necessarily make them better than all of them.

And as the Jets have already sort of found out, pushing all your chips to the middle for an aging star is a plan with a real chance of backfiring.