The New York Jets may be too flawed for Davante Adams to save them

Like me, you probably spent your Sunday morning watching Aaron Rodgers throw three interceptions and 22 more incomplete passes to the Jets in London. You probably saw Rodgers’ throw slip through the fingers of nearly every pass catcher in a New York uniform, as they still managed to mount a half-hearted comeback in a 23-17 loss against The undefeated Minnesota Vikings.

I wonder if Davante Adams found himself on his couch, nursing those hamstrings while watching that one game. Maybe he was looking at his old quarterback and the team in green and white and thinking, “Yeah… those are my guys.” I can work with that.

The struggling Las Vegas Raiders appear to be ready to move on from Adams, with coach Antonio Pierce adding to the drama every step of the way. Adams, who has long publicly said he wants to stay in Vegas, is now open to a trade.

The usual insiders said trade talks are expected to escalate “in the next 48 hours” and that Adams would prefer to land a quarterback he’s already played with — the 2-3 Jets and Rodgers, or the New Orleans Saints and Derek Carr.

Perhaps the Raiders could start a bidding war setting not only the Jets and Saints, but other teams with interest as well. After all, a star like Adams makes any team better.

But New York is hardly guaranteed to get it what it’s much better if he gets the move right. Among the Jets’ many problems, the number of wide receiver skills is very low, for a change.

Full disclosure here: I’m a Jets fan, reasonably young but still a “long-suffering” type. (If you think there’s some kind of ethical problem with me writing about this team in a professional capacity, well, if Jets fan Wealthy Eisen were allowed to do play-by-play for the London game , I think I have the rights to criticize them.)

There are several arguments we can make for the Jets trading for Adams. Rodgers and Adams threw 76 touchdowns between the regular season and playoffs during an eight-year marriage in Inexperienced Bay, tied for fifth place by a quarterback receiving duo in league history. The Jets still have small hopes as the AFC East is weaker than expected, with the Buffalo Bills at 3-2 but suddenly looking vulnerable and the Miami Dolphins feeling in the dark without a quarterback hard

And as difficult as the last few years (or decades) have been for fans of this team, saying “we can’t have nice things” doesn’t mean you’re not trying. I saw this angle in 2020 from all Jets antagonists as well as some supposed fans – it was like: “Why get excited about the opportunity to land Trevor Lawrence? We’ll just find a way to ruin it too. I understand that this group promotes nihilism in people, but this view of the world is completely false.

That said, the Jets aren’t a star receiver away from a Big Bowl, just like, lo and behold, the aging future Hall of Famer wasn’t at the quarterback position away from unstable. Rodgers threw two of his three interceptions Sunday in the first quarter alone, both on bad decisions, not fluke plays or tipped balls.

The Jets were already counting heavily on Rodgers to transform them. They brought in their favorite offensive coordinator and signed former Packers teammate Allen Lazard as a receiver. (Don’t forget Randall Cobb who was very washed up in 2023!) So why is the end of the guy and his time with his teammates so clear of him, and why would a more familiar face take that away?

The other big problem is that coach Robert Saleh didn’t prepare the Jets, who were at their worst in an ugly 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 4. So that doesn’t help when Rodgers is also completely predictable with who he wants to throw. He forced a reckless pass to his friend Lazard in the red zone Sunday before Lazard’s final touchdown, and attempted another low-percentage shot to Tyler Conklin in double coverage at the goal line.

There is a universe where the Jets are right on the ship. It may or may not be Adams’s fault, but most of the middle part of their schedule is very attractive, with the exception of the Houston Texans. Tons of things had to go right – the running game has to be better than 32nd in a 32-team league, and someone had to wave a magic wand over an offensive line that’s barely holding things together.

Mortgaging more of your future to pair Adams with your 40-year-old quarterback won’t hide those problems. And ultimately missing the playoffs would hurt fans twice as much.