How the Jets’ new WR stacks up against his old teammate

On By Pranco

Two weeks ago the Jets from New York made the first transaction of the 2024 NFL season, send a conditional third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for wide receiver Davante Adams.

The deal reunited the three-time first-team All-Pro with a longtime teammate Aaron Rodgers in New York. Rodgers and Adams played together for eight seasons at the Green Bay Packers for Adams was traded to the Raiders.

The move was expected to help the Jets turn around a 2-4 start to the season, but New York has lost its first two games with Adams in the lineup. Here’s how Adams and Rodgers have influenced each other over the years.

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Davante Adams stats with Aaron Rodgers

Due to two games in New York, Adams is a bit behind his pace in Las Vegas.

  • Adams with Las Vegas (three games): 27 targets, 18 catches, 209 yards, one touchdown

  • Adams with New York (two games): 15 targets, seven catches, 84 yards

He has fewer yards, catches and targets per game with the Jets than he did with the Raiders. That’s not too surprising, though, as New York has more threats than Las Vegas, meaning Adams will be fewer forced targets.

Rodgers has performed slightly better with Adams in the lineup through two games.

  • Before the Adams trade (six games): 134 of 217 passing, 1,387 yards, nine touchdowns, five interceptions, 84.4 passer rating

  • After Adams trade (two games): 41-of-67 passing, 509 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, 87.2 passer rating

Davante Adams career stats with Aaron Rodgers

Adams played in 116 games over eight seasons with the Packers. Rodgers was his starting quarterback in 108 games and Adams made the Pro Bowl five times (2017-2021). Especially in the fast game, they formed a dynamic duo for Green Bay.

After moving to New York, Adams now has 110 career games with Rodgers throwing the ball to him, compared to 45 with any other quarterback.

Here are his stats with and without Rodgers:

  • Adams with Rodgers (110 games): 629 catches, 7,675 yards, 69 touchdowns

  • Adams without Rodgers (45 games): 268 catches, 3,399 yards, 27 touchdowns

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Is Aaron Rodgers declining?

Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. The four-time NFL MVP is the all-time career leader with lowest interception percentage (1.4%) and quarterback rating (102.9).

His most recent MVP win came in 2021 when he led the NFL in quarterback rating (111.9) and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 37 to 4. That happened to be his final season with Adams in Green Bay. But since then he has lost weight in most categories.

In 2022, his completion percentage, yards, touchdowns and ratings dropped significantly despite playing 17 games for the first time. He had a career-low 217.4 passing yards per game and threw 12 interceptions, the most since his first full season as a starter in 2008.

Rodgers missed the 2023 season with an Achilles injury. In 2024, his numbers have continued to decline.

Through eight games, he is on pace for the lowest completion percentage and lowest passer rating of his career. His interception percentage sits at 2.5%, matching his injury-affected 2017 season, the highest of his career, putting him on pace for a career-high 14 interceptions.

If he keeps this up, the 2024 season will be Rodgers’ worst season in the NFL by almost all metrics. He is playing significantly worse than his MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers together: the Jets duo in 2024