The long-speculated trade between the Jets and Las Vegas Raiders has finally happened—but will it be enough to energize an offense that is averaging just 18.8 points per game, tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams for 22nd in the NFL?
With the Jets acquiring wide receiver Davante Adams for a conditional 2025 third-round pick, the 31-year-old three-time First Team All Pro is reunited with the team’s current starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Adams played for the Green Bay Packers from 2014 to 2021, while Rodgers was with the Packers from 2005 to 2022.
The Jets are 2-4 and have lost three games in a row, despite a top-5 NFL defense. They fired head coach Robert Saleh last week, although Saleh specializes on the defensive side of the ball. Their problems have clearly been an offense unable to maximize talented skill players such as wide receiver Garrett Wilson and running back Breece Hall.
On being promoted from the Jets’ defensive coordinator to interim head coach, Jeff Ulbrich reassigned former offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and moved Todd Downing, who previously was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, to offensive play caller. While the offense showed improvement on Monday night versus the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium, the results were the same when they lost 23-20, scoring just one touchdown in four trips after reaching the Bills’ red zone (20-yard line).
“We need to get going,” Rodgers said after the loss. “This was a golden opportunity. Some games you win in the NFL and some games you give away. This was a giveaway. I mean, we were terrible in the red zone, missed two field goals, and didn’t convert on a 2-minute drive. We had plenty of chances, had the momentum, had good drives, moved the wall up and down the field, so—disappointing.”
But Ulbrich is optimistic that Adams can improve their lagging point production, given his long history and positive chemistry with Rodgers.
“[He’s] not only an elite player, as we all know, but the relationship with him and Aaron just takes his value to a whole other space for us,” said Ulbrich on Tuesday. “I think we’ll figure that out in the next couple of days, how all these pieces fit together. It’s an exciting and a good problem to have because we’ve got a lot of different guys with a lot of different skill sets [who] can do a lot of different things.”
Heading into Week 7, the Jets are still very much in contention in the AFC East. The 4-2 Bills are vulnerable, but enhanced their questionable wide receiver group by making a trade with the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday for five-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper.
The division could shift in three or four weeks, which is the nature of the NFL. But the Jets’ margin for error is decreasing with each defeat. The turnaround must start now.
