Increasingly Desperate Jets to Pay All of Davante Adams’s Contract

The morning after a three-point loss to the Bills—their fourth defeat this season—the New York Jets are trying to recreate greatness by shelling out for Davante Adams on Tuesday.

The wide receiver’s future has been in question for weeks since the Raiders made him available for a trade, but most teams were not interested in paying the full guaranteed amount on his contract without help from Las Vegas. This year, Adams has a base salary of $16.89 million before additional roster bonuses that could amount to $510,000. Several teams including the Bills and Chiefs were reportedly interested, if the Raiders would bear some of that load.

In their hour of need, the Jets pounced. New York will pay the remainder of Adams’s salary this season, which amounts to $11.6 million, according to NFL Network. Adams has two years left on his contract with base salaries of $35.64 million each season, but those years are non-guaranteed. The Jets could walk away without any obligations after this season, or try to re-negotiate terms with Adams. (They already restructured his 2024 deal on Tuesday, the NFL Network reported.)

Jets owner Woody Johnson briefly spoke about the trade at the NFL owners meetings in Atlanta.

“I don’t know,” he said of the money the Jets were taking on. “I’d like to rework every contract down. And we have limited resources.”

The 31-year-old joins the Jets exactly one week after head coach Robert Saleh was fired. Johnson insisted that Aaron Rodgers didn’t have anything to do with the firing or the trade. “I think anybody would be interested in looking at this gentleman,” he said of Adams. “He opens up everything, particularly having that relationship with the quarterback. That’s very important.”

The Jets now sit at 2-4 in their first full season with Rodgers.

Adams has been with Las Vegas since 2022 when he was traded from Green Bay, where he had been Rodgers’s most prolific target. Earlier this year, Rodgers had hinted that the duo’s days might not be over. “I love Davante. I can’t wait to play with him again,” the future Hall of Fame quarterback said in July.

Adams’s trade leaves New York with about $5.5 million in cap space for the rest of the season.

The other side of the trade isn’t unprecedented, but it is unusual. The Jets are giving the Raiders a third-round pick, but if Adams makes the first- or second-team All-Pro this year or if he is active for New York in an AFC championship or Super Bowl, Vegas will get a second-round pick instead.

– Eric Fisher contributed reporting from Atlanta.