Davante Adams, Who Could Be Traded: Packers Need Receiver Help

After a painful playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Green Bay Packers could need help at receiver, said former Packers star Davante Adams, who might have broken news.
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams catches a 66-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers.
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams catches a 66-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers. / Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ comeback hopes during Sunday’s season-ending loss to the Philadelphia Eagles were foiled by a lack of receivers.

After Christian Watson suffered a torn ACL against Chicago in Week 18, Romeo Doubs suffered a concussion and Jayden Reed sustained a dislocated shoulder in a span of about 10 plays in the third quarter of their wild-card game.

It was too much for Jordan Love to overcome. The Packers, who were struggling, anyway, lost 22-10.

Appearing on FanDuel Sportsbook’s Up & Adams, host Kay Adams asked former Packers star Davante Adams about the roster moves the Packers could make this offseason.

“If I had to try to pinpoint something, I think that the Packers, obviously, it depends on the health of the team coming into the beginning of next season,” Adams said. “Obviously, if Josh (Myers) is banged up and is still hurt, they’re going to need to do something about that. Hopefully, they have somebody behind him that's ready to go and ready to fill that void.”

Adams continued by looking at the health of the receiver corps. Even with an optimistic nine-month timeline, Watson will miss at least the first month of the upcoming season. Plus, Doubs suffered his second concussion in about seven weeks, leaving coach Matt LaFleur “absolutely” concerned.

“It's kind of that Tua (Tagovailoa) situation where it can be a week or it can extend out longer than that,” Adams said. “I'm praying for him either way. …

“But I just think it kind of depends on the health of the team. And, it’s looking right now like, obviously, they might need some receiver help in one way or the other just based off of what they have available. And maybe a veteran or something in there. I don't know. We’ll see.”

One veteran receiver who could be available, of course, is Adams.

The 32-year-old is a six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro. The Packers traded him to the Raiders before the 2022 draft, and the Raiders traded him to the Jets early this season. In 14 total games, he caught 85 passes for 1,063 yards and eight touchdowns. It was his fifth consecutive 1,000-yard season.

Adams is under contract for the next two years but with astronomical base salaries of $35.64 million in 2025 and 2026.

If the Jets decide to rebuild and trade Adams, those contracts obviously would have to be reworked.

Another option would be Bengals free-agent Tee Higgins, which would be an interesting twist.

In 2020, with the Packers coming off a surprise trip to the NFC Championship Game with Rodgers and Adams, they could have added another weapon to the offense. Instead of drafting Higgins, general manager Brian Gutekunst selected Love.

“I heard they’ve been looking into Tee Higgins,” Adams said.

Kay Adams interjected that she thought Higgins would stay with Joe Burrow and the Bengals.

“Tee is more than deserving and is, in my mind, easily a No. 1 (receiver),” Davante Adams said. “He can go to any team and be a No. 1. So, if that's what he decides to do, then I know that'll work out, too. If he stays, obviously, they've shown that the way Joe's throwing it, what he's capable of doing and how much they throw the ball, there's plenty of balls to go around. I'm excited to see what he does.”

At this point last year, the Packers looked like a rising young power, having clobbered the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round to continue their red-hot finish to the season. Love was dominant in that game in posting a near-perfect passer rating.

In Sunday’s loss to the Eagles, though, Love threw three interceptions.

Adams called Love a “f------ baller” in April. What does he think now?

“From what I saw, obviously, he didn't have the greatest go at it out there,” Adams said. “I still believe in him as a player. I don't think one game can define you. Obviously, that's how the playoffs go and it's more cutthroat because you don't have as much room to mess around as you do in the regular season, where you can just evaluate the numbers, as we did with Joe (Burrow). …

“But the way that the playoffs go, it doesn't really matter what you did. Statistically, it's more about if you won the game or not. Obviously, if you played better and the loss came as a result of the defense not closing it out or something like that, I'm sure you get a little bit more grace from the fans, the outside world, the organization, the decision-makers. But not playing well and not getting the victory, obviously, is going to put you in a tough spot. But, like I said, I still believe in him.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.