It Would Appear Davante Adams is Less Than Thrilled About Having Jimmy G for a Quarterback

Cooper Neill. Getty Images.

It's interesting to see the power dynamic between owners and players slowly, gradually, incrementally shift in tiny baby steps toward the players. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't all that long ago that a player unhappy with his situation had two choices: Suck it up, or hold out. Free agency gave them some latitude. Salaries at the top end of the scale have been trending up at an impressive rate. We're even beginning to see a fully guaranteed contract or two, which was unthinkable a short time ago. So there's been some progress at least. 

But before these guys think they're heading to a utopian, NBA-like future where players are the entire product and hold all the power, to the point they can create their own superteams with management having minimal say in the matter, consider the case of Davante Adams. 

Having established himself as one of pro football's top wideouts five years ago, Adams took his talents to Las Vegas. Moreover, he proved it was not all about Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay as he followed up his 123-catch, 1,553-yard, 11 TD 2021 season with 100 catches for 1,516 yards, and a league-leading 14 touchdowns while running routes for Derek Carr. Only to find out he didn't think much of Derek Carr:

Then less than 24 hours ago, Adams found out who Carr's replacement will be:

And while that move seemed to be painfully obvious to the rest of the world given Josh McDaniels' history with Jimmy G, Adams is giving off the impression he's no more excited about it than he was with Carr:

Forgive me if I'm reading too much between the lines here. But what else could Adams possibly mean other than "This sucks. I don't want to talk about it"? Unless the people he hasn't heard from in three weeks are reaching out to get his reaction to the SVB collapse or Brendan Fraser's Oscar, one has to assume he's got no interest in sharing a huddle with Garoppolo. If he was excited about the prospect of catching Jimmy G spirals and following his lead deep into the postseason for years to come, he would've simply added a few words of positive affirmation. Instead, we just get 16 cryptic words of passive/aggressiveness, light on the passive and with extra helpings of aggressiveness. 

Advertisement

So let this be a cautionary tale for all members of the NFLPA of who still runs this league. And it ain't you. You can go where you think you want to be. But that's the limit of your control over your situation. After that, you can find yourself stuck with teammates you don't want, and you're powerless to do anything about it. And let his be a lesson for all of us, really. Be careful what you wish for. Adams got the $140 million deal he wanted and deserved. But it sounds like he's finding out too late how good he had it in Green Bay. And that sometimes in this life, the real massive free agent contract is the quarterback friends you make along the way. That's a lesson Adams is learning too late.