The New York Jets are a mess. They're 0-3 since firing head coach Robert Saleh, who was supposed to “save” their season. They're 0-2 since trading for Davante Adams, which was supposed to be the other thing to “save” their season.
They're now 2-6 after losing to the New England Patriots (who came into Week 8's matchup at 1-6 and riding a six-game losing streak) and if the wheels hadn't already fallen off the Jets' season, they're officially off now.
There's no emergency landing to save this thing. It's done and over. All that's left is to trudge through the final nine games and hope that Aaron Rodgers doesn't walk out on them to put the cherry on top of this “you know what” sundae.
Nobody will admit it within the organization, but it's time to start looking ahead to the future, where a complete and total rebuild is likely needed. The Jets need a new head coach, they need a new quarterback, and they apparently need new players on what was supposed to be an “elite” defense.
As such, they need to trade Adams before he loses his luster as well.
Here's why.
The Aaron Rodgers-Davante Adams “connection” is overhyped
It was supposed to be the great fix as well as the best way to keep Rodgers, a four-time MVP and future Hall of Famer, happy.
Rodgers and Adams had connected 622 times for 7,590 yards and 69 touchdowns while with the Green Bay Packers. Not only did they play well together, but they're known to be good friends.
Rodgers had already brought over several friends to New York from his time with the Packers, so why not Adams as well?
Here's the issue.
Adams has played in two games with his buddy Rodgers, and he's totaled just seven catches for 84 yards with no touchdowns. Rodgers forced it to him against the Pittsburgh Steelers but Adams caught only 3-of-9 passes. He caught 4-of-6 against the Patriots but again, he's put exactly zero points on the board so far for New York.
This connection was oversold by the Jets' front office because so far it has bore no fruit for their offense. With Rodgers looking more and more gimpy every week, there's also a chance he won't be playing in a few weeks, which would make the Adams trade pointless.
The Jets need to start building a war chest of NFL Draft picks
Speaking of trades, in order to bring in Adams, Jets General Manager Joe Douglas traded away a conditional 2025 third-round pick that could become a second-rounder if Adams becomes a first-or or second-team All-Pro or if he's on the active roster if the Jets make the AFC Championship Game or Super Bowl.
Frankly, at this juncture, neither of those things will happen. It's still worth pointing out that already facing a lost season and the fact that he'll likely not be employed by the Jets next season, Douglas traded away valuable draft capital for Adams.
Keep in mind, that this all started with Douglas trading with the Packers for Rodgers. Sure, he was a season removed from his second-straight MVP season, but Rodgers clearly had lost a step in 2022 before the Jets traded for him, and he's clearly lost a ton since an Achilles injury stole all of 2023 from him. His arm is still there, but the mobility and ability to move around in the pocket just isn't.
The Jets swamped 2023 first-round picks with the Packers (No. 13 for No. 15) and they also gave Green Bay pick No. 42 in 2023, pick No. 207 in 2023, and a conditional 2024 second-round pick.
Thanks to some good maneuvering from their general manager, Brian Gutekunst, several good players came out of that transaction for the Pack. That list includes defensive end Lukas Van Ness, tight end Luke Musgrave and rookie defender, linebacker Edgerring Cooper, and safety Evan Williams.
Cooper and Williams, specifically, look well on their way to becoming stars for Green Bay.
Meanwhile, the Jets are stuck with an aging and clearly frustrated former MVP.
What Gutekunst did for the Packers, Douglas can still try to do for the Jets in a last-ditch effort to save his job. It's time for the Jets to acquire as much draft compensation as possible to rebuild.
If Douglas has any spine and wants to try to save his job and try to plead for a brighter future, trading Adams will be his ticket to trying to make that happen.
Davante Adams' contract gets tricky from here on out
Adams may as well be getting paid in Taco Bell this season. His base salary is $806 thousand, which is nothing for a player who could very well make a bid to the Hall of Fame one day.
The issue for the Jet is that Adams' contract structure gets tricky from here on out. His base salary in both 2025 and 2026 is $35 million, which means the Jets would be paying a ton of money for a receiver who may not even have his favorite quarterback and friend throwing to him next season (how ironic that would be for Adams).
Will Rodgers play in 2025? He'll need another darkness retreat to answer that question, but right now it seems unlikely.
Will Adams even want to stay with the Jets past this season? That's another tough question for New York because they could end up paying $35 million for a wideout who mysteriously comes down with another “soft tissue injury”.
There's a potential out for the Jets built into Adams' contract which would make him count only $8.3 million in dead cap money against their 2025 salary cap if they cut him after the 2024 season.
That's the most likely scenario in this instance outside of a trade, so if they're going to end up cutting him anyway, why not trade him by the 2024 trade deadline to at least try to salvage something from this miserable trade?
It's the only thing that makes sense at this point for the Jets.
