Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) and wide receiver Garrett Wilson (5) talk on the field during the second quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
On Tuesday, the New York Jets returned to work following their rough 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday night. They wasted little time getting to work on making the team better by officially trading a third-round pick for the Las Vegas Raiders star wide receiver, Davante Adams.
Monday night’s game was not a horrible game for the offense. Breece Hall returned to form with a monster showing, Aaron Rodgers played very well, and Garrett Wilson continued to torch defenses. Sadly, the Jets lost this game at the very end when Mike Williams tripped over his own two feet and missed a very catchable throw from Aaron Rodgers, causing a game-ending interception.
This could have been one of the ugliest plays by any Jets player so far in the season’s early going. While some can point fingers at Rodgers for underthrowing Williams, this has been a downright awful season for Williams with drops and missing catches thrown right at him. Unfortunately with all of this known, Williams’s time on the Jets could be coming to an end, especially because of the trade which brought in star wide receiver, Davante Adams. But how will this trade affect other Jets wide receivers?
Starting with the Jets WR1, this move can only spell great things for Garrett Wilson. Wilson has been the Jets’ star wide receiver now for the better part of the past three years. The most important thing Wilson can gain from this is experience. Make no mistake about it, Adams is, and always has been one of the game’s best wide receivers, despite his quiet past couple of years. Wilson is a young gun who can learn a lot from a guy like Adams.
With another guy like Adams on the field, this could make Wilson’s life much easier. For far too long, other NFL defenses knew that Wilson was the main, and only threat at wide receiver. For example, last year, if Wilson wasn’t doing well, nobody was. Randall Cobb dropped everything thrown at him, Allen Lazard had an awful 2023, and nobody else threatened opposing defenses. Now, Adams could take the eyes off of Wilson, which could lead to big plays from him, and vice versa.
Unfortunately, the Adams move isn’t great for every Jets wide receiver. Take Malachi Corley for instance. Corley, who was drafted by the Jets in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft, was already a massive afterthought for the offense. He has been a healthy scratch for the past couple of weeks and with Adams coming, that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon. Unfortunately for Corley, barring any injuries, he won’t see the field at all this season.
With various Instagram stories already showing his displeasure with his current role, Corley’s morale will more than likely continue to fall. Corley will continue to move down the depth chart, especially with the acquisition of Adams. Even though he’s only a rookie, if Corley’s morale is already like it is now, it could only be a matter of time before the Jets move on from him entirely. Allen Lazard’s role likely won’t change, but he will be helpful to have on the field as another name for defenses to look out for.
Overall, the only receiver who this may very negatively affect is Williams, and rightfully so. The Jets brought on Williams this past offseason, and will now have to swallow their pride and realize the version of Williams they got is not the one they wanted. Now with Adams coming to New York, the Jets have already begun shopping Williams around for anyone who may be interested in trading for him. Spoiler alert, they won’t get much.
Looking at the whole picture here, Adams to the Jets is a massive, and great move. Reuniting Rodgers and Adams could spell great things for the Jets offense, and bad things for opposing defenses. At the end of the day, the Jets are a better team than they were yesterday. There’s still a lot of work to do, and Adams doesn’t solve all of their issues. However, the duo of him and Wilson could re-ignite this team and get them back on track with a Super Bowl being the ultimate goal.