In a move that should be surprising to absolutely no one, the Jets have acquired Davante Adams from the Raiders. So much for the story a couple of days ago that the Raiders might hang onto him. The Jets may be 2-4, but they're not short on talent to turn this thing around.
The obvious loser here is Mike Williams, whose route-running was a contentious issue in each of the Jets' last two losses, which ended with interceptions while Aaron Rodgers was targeting Williams. With Garrett Wilson and two of Rodgers' favorite wide receivers, Adams and Allen Lazard, will Williams even be getting on the field? Probably not.
Jakobi Meyers is the big winner for the Raiders, assuming he can shake the ankle injury that kept him out of the team's last game. Meyers in his previous three averaged 6 catches for 81 yards, with 1 TD. Adams missed two of those, and will now miss the rest. Theoretically Tre Tucker is the other beneficiary, but Tucker played nearly every snap last week without even catching a pass, so let's hold off on proclaiming there being a viable No. 2 in the Aidan O'Connell offense. It's Meyers and tight end Brock Bowers; those are the clear top 2 receivers.
With the Jets, it's hard to see how this is anything but a blow to the fortunes of Garrett Wilson, who happens to be coming off his best two games (21 catches for 208 yards and 2 TDs). Adams is 31, but he still commands the ball. As does Wilson.
Since the start of the 2022 season (when Adams was traded to Las Vegas), there have been 38 wide receivers to see at least 200 targets. Just 10 of them have averaged at least 9 targets per game. The Jets now have two of those players.
WR TARGETS PER GAME, 2022-PRESENT | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Tgt | G | Rec | Yds | TD | Tgt/G |
Davante Adams | 382 | 37 | 221 | 2869 | 23 | 10.3 |
Justin Jefferson | 327 | 32 | 222 | 3333 | 17 | 10.2 |
Tyreek Hill | 381 | 38 | 261 | 3795 | 21 | 10.0 |
CeeDee Lamb | 392 | 40 | 274 | 3575 | 23 | 9.8 |
Keenan Allen | 264 | 27 | 189 | 2117 | 13 | 9.8 |
Cooper Kupp | 220 | 23 | 152 | 1696 | 12 | 9.6 |
Garrett Wilson | 382 | 40 | 219 | 2544 | 10 | 9.6 |
Amon-Ra St. Brown | 352 | 37 | 256 | 2965 | 19 | 9.5 |
Ja'Marr Chase | 321 | 34 | 221 | 2827 | 21 | 9.4 |
Stefon Diggs | 362 | 39 | 252 | 3004 | 22 | 9.3 |
A.J. Brown | 322 | 36 | 205 | 3187 | 20 | 8.9 |
Michael Pittman Jr. | 339 | 38 | 233 | 2350 | 10 | 8.9 |
Chris Godwin | 325 | 38 | 230 | 2558 | 10 | 8.6 |
Amari Cooper | 313 | 38 | 174 | 2660 | 16 | 8.2 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 253 | 31 | 153 | 1949 | 11 | 8.2 |
D.K. Metcalf | 314 | 39 | 187 | 2631 | 16 | 8.1 |
Diontae Johnson | 289 | 36 | 166 | 1939 | 8 | 8.0 |
Mike Evans | 305 | 38 | 181 | 2689 | 24 | 8.0 |
Marquise Brown | 208 | 26 | 118 | 1283 | 7 | 8.0 |
Chris Olave | 286 | 37 | 182 | 2445 | 10 | 7.7 |
DeVonta Smith | 280 | 37 | 200 | 2565 | 16 | 7.6 |
D.J. Moore | 301 | 40 | 190 | 2566 | 18 | 7.5 |
Terry McLaurin | 295 | 40 | 185 | 2549 | 13 | 7.4 |
Christian Kirk | 257 | 35 | 165 | 2191 | 12 | 7.3 |
Nico Collins | 220 | 30 | 149 | 2345 | 13 | 7.3 |
Drake London | 281 | 39 | 179 | 2199 | 10 | 7.2 |
Tyler Lockett | 279 | 39 | 189 | 2266 | 15 | 7.2 |
Tee Higgins | 222 | 32 | 141 | 1944 | 14 | 6.9 |
Adam Thielen | 256 | 37 | 181 | 1839 | 11 | 6.9 |
Jaylen Waddle | 249 | 36 | 168 | 2628 | 12 | 6.9 |
Jakobi Meyers | 238 | 35 | 163 | 1884 | 15 | 6.8 |
Brandon Aiyuk | 260 | 39 | 176 | 2708 | 15 | 6.7 |
Courtland Sutton | 246 | 37 | 144 | 1878 | 14 | 6.6 |
Deebo Samuel | 215 | 33 | 136 | 1859 | 10 | 6.5 |
Jerry Jeudy | 223 | 37 | 141 | 1978 | 9 | 6.0 |
George Pickens | 234 | 40 | 141 | 2304 | 9 | 5.9 |
Gabriel Davis | 207 | 38 | 110 | 1786 | 16 | 5.4 |
Curtis Samuel | 200 | 39 | 138 | 1361 | 8 | 5.1 |
Data from pro-football-reference.com used in compiling this table.
Can Rodgers keep both target-monsters happy? We'll find out soon enough. Seems likely that one of them will be disappointed. But Rodgers himself is certainly working with a highly capable duo; looks like a plus for him in fantasy terms.
--Andy Richardson