Like me, you will have spent your Sunday morning watching Aaron Rodgers throw three interceptions and 22 extra incomplete passes for the Jets in London. You could have seen Rodgers’ throws glide off the fingertips of just about each pass-catcher in a New York uniform as they nonetheless managed to mount a half-hearted comeback in a 23-17 loss to the undefeated Minnesota Vikings.
I ponder if Davante Adams discovered himself on his sofa, nursing that balky hamstring, watching this similar sport. Perhaps he was maintaining tabs on his former quarterback and the workforce in inexperienced and white and considering to himself, “Yeah… these are my guys. I can work with this.”
The sinking Las Vegas Raiders are apparently prepared to maneuver on from Adams, with coach Antonio Pierce including to the drama each step of the way in which. Adams, who lengthy maintained publicly that he needed to remain in Vegas, is now open to a commerce, too.
The standard insiders have reported that commerce talks “ought to ramp up over the following 48 hours” and that Adams would like a touchdown spot with a quarterback he’s performed with earlier than — the 2-3 Jets and Rodgers, or the New Orleans Saints and Derek Carr.
The Raiders could possibly begin a bidding battle pitting not solely the Jets and Saints, but in addition different groups in opposition to one another. In spite of everything, a star like Adams makes any workforce higher.
However New York is hardly assured to get that a lot better if it pulls off the transfer. Of the Jets’ myriad of issues, the quantity of large receiver expertise ranks fairly low, for a change.
Full disclosure right here: I’m a Jets fan, moderately younger however nonetheless of the “long-suffering” selection. (When you suppose there’s some type of moral drawback with me writing about this workforce in knowledgeable capability, effectively, if Jets fan Wealthy Eisen was allowed to do play-by-play for the London sport, I feel I’m inside my rights to criticize them.)
There are a number of factors we will make in favor of a Jets commerce for Adams. Rodgers and Adams have linked on 76 touchdowns between the common season and playoffs in an eight-year marriage in Inexperienced Bay, tied for fifth most by a quarterback-receiver duo in league historical past. The Jets nonetheless have faint playoff hopes as a result of the AFC East is weaker than anticipated, with the Buffalo Payments at 3-2 however all of the sudden wanting weak and the Miami Dolphins feeling round at nighttime and not using a strong quarterback.
And as arduous because the previous few years (or a long time) have been on followers of this workforce, simply saying “we will’t have good issues” doesn’t imply you don’t strive. I noticed this perspective in 2020 from antagonists of the Jets in addition to some supposed followers — it went like, “Why get excited concerning the likelihood to land Trevor Lawrence? We’ll simply discover a approach to smash him too.” I get that this group conjures up nihilism in folks, however that worldview frankly sucks.
That stated, the Jets aren’t one star receiver away from a Tremendous Bowl, simply as, lo and behold, they weren’t one getting older future Corridor of Famer at quarterback away from turning into unstoppable. Rodgers threw two of his three interceptions on Sunday within the first quarter alone, each on fairly dangerous selections, not flukes or tipped balls.
The Jets already banked a lot on Rodgers remodeling them. They put in his most well-liked offensive coordinator and signed one other former Packer teammate, Allen Lazard, at receiver. (Don’t neglect a really washed Randall Cobb in 2023!) Then why is the man’s cadence and timing along with his teammates so clearly off, and why would yet one more acquainted face make that disappear?
The opposite huge difficulty is that coach Robert Saleh hasn’t had the Jets ready, seen at its worst in an unsightly 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 4. So it doesn’t assist when Rodgers can be totally predictable with who he desires to throw to. He compelled an unwise cross to his buddy Lazard within the purple zone on Sunday earlier than Lazard finally scored, and he tried one other extraordinarily low-percentage shot to Tyler Conklin in double protection on the objective line.
There’s a universe the place the Jets proper the ship. Perhaps it’s with Adams and perhaps it’s not, however a lot of the center a part of their schedule is eminently beatable apart from the Houston Texans. Tons must go proper — the working sport has to rank higher than thirty second in a 32-team league, and somebody would wish to wave a magic wand over an offensive line that’s barely holding issues collectively.
Mortgaging extra of your future to pair Adams together with your 40-year-old quarterback doesn’t paper over these issues. And it might make finally lacking the playoffs harm the followers twice as a lot.