The former Green Packers receiver Davante Adams has compared star quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the NBA legend Michael Jordan after he was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders.
On “The Pivot” podcast, Adams said that by simply being present, Rodgers frequently affected players in a positive way, although Rodgers himself didn’t really believe his presence at practice before training camp had that much effect.
“You’re obviously gonna run a little harder [if] your coach is watching you. So it was kind of that type of effect, and he made me a better player out of that because the consistency came from that,” Adams said.
“It wasn’t the same as when Aaron is out there.”
Aaron Rodgers recently downplayed the impact of his absence from OTAs on the development of the team's young receivers. Comments made last Wednesday by Davante Adams to @thepivot seriously undercut that argument. https://t.co/sTc9pT5B3z
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 24, 2022
Adams has a total of 669 receptions for 8,121 yards, and 73 receiving touchdowns in 116 games during his stint with the Packers. Rodgers and Adams have been considered the most capable quarterback-receiver combo in recent years.
He requested a trade this offseason after the Packers’ loss against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC playoffs’ divisional round. In this year’s NFL Draft, the Raiders traded away their first and second round picks in exchange for Adams.
Practicing with Carr
While with the Raiders, Adams has been working on his chemistry with quarterback Derek Carr in training camp.
They had their first day of joint practice with the New England Patriots on Tuesday. In an interview with CBS Sports, Adams said that he believed Carr could be a Hall of Fame quarterback.
“Any time you change quarterbacks from a Hall of Famer to a Hall of Famer, [Kenny] Stabler to Rich Gannon or whoever you go to, it’ll definitely be a little bit of an adjustment,” Adams said.
"Any time you change QBs from hall-of-famer to hall-of-famer it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment."
Davante Adams on the transition from Aaron Rodgers to Derek Carr as his QB.@JosinaAnderson | @BMac_SportsTalk pic.twitter.com/8sKcY07M5L
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) July 22, 2022
Carr himself also agreed with Adams that it was important to re-establish his connection with Adams. The last time they played together was in 2013 at Fresno State.
“We were obviously looking forward to it,” he said. “As you can see how training camp has progressed and the preseason, this was an important week for us. So getting these reps is crucial for us.
“So to be able to connect on some things is good, but I think we missed one — the one that we missed on the left. We’re going to look at it and be hard on ourselves and be like, ‘How can we make that one?’”
While running back Brandon Bolden said in a press conference that Adams and Carr have been performing exactly as they were expected since training camp started, Carr remained adamant that they still could go better.
“If I’m honest, we still have room to improve,” Carr said.
“I think that there are some things that we did really well today and there are some things that when we turn the film on, we’re going to be like, ‘Oh, wow.’ Stuff that doesn’t even catch your eye, stuff that you say, ‘We had a good play,’ so everyone’s excited. But you’re like, ‘Oh man, this is close to not being so good.’”
With joint practices going on, Carr and Adams are presumed to be not playing against the Patriots in the preseason game on Friday. According to Yahoo Sports contributor Myles Simmons, the two would likely make their on-field debut in the new regular season against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1.