Last month, Aaron Rodgers lost Shailene Woodley when the celebrity couple broke up and called off their engagement.
Yesterday, the 38-year-old quarterback lost someone in his life who may have been more important to him when the Green Bay Packers traded star receiver Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders for a first-round pick (No. 22 overall) and second-round pick (No. 53) in this next month’s NFL Draft. Now a Raider, Adams is signing a five-year contract averaging $28.5 million per season with Las Vegas that gives the 29-year-old $67.5 million fully guaranteed.
Rodgers, who gave every indication he wanted to continue playing with Adams and would have considered going to another team so they could continue their on-field partnership, also just signed a contract that will pay him more than $150 million over the next three years, with nearly $75 million guaranteed at signing. Now the highest-paid player in NFL history, Rodgers reportedly knew that Adams was on his way out of Green Bay before he signed his mega-deal and must have given Packers officials the go-ahead to make the trade. Considering how much Rodgers relied on Adams, who was basically the only person he trusted to throw to in Green Bay’s playoff loss to the 49ers, that is pretty shocking.
But perhaps it shouldn’t actually be all that surprising, as Adams could have stayed with the Packers on a similar deal to what he got from the Raiders but wanted to leave town to reunite with his college quarterback Derek Carr in Las Vegas. Perhaps, like many other people, he got tired of dealing with Rodgers and all of his mystifying off-field antics. Or perhaps Adams just wanted to play with his buddy from Fresno State on a team with a new coach and GM. “I love Derek to death,” Adams previously said. “It would be a dream to play with him.”
That’s what former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin, who now works for ESPN, seems to think. “Davante Adams picking to play with Derek Carr over Aaron Rodgers, speaks to how great of a leader Carr is and has been in Las Vegas,” he said. “Now he gets a true No. 1 who happens to be one of his best friends. Adams picked the possible longevity with Carr over short term with Rodgers.”
In making the deal for Adams, the Raiders also effectively committed themselves to Carr for the foreseeable future and will likely offer him a lucrative extension sooner rather than later. In some ways, the trade may end up being more important for Carr, who has never won a playoff game and has always seemed to be thought of as replaceable by the Raiders, than for Adams.
“The Raiders didn’t reunite the Fresno State teammates with the goal of promptly separating them,” per ProFootballTalk. “Although coach Josh McDaniels apparently was smitten with Baker Mayfield during the pre-draft process four years ago, Carr is clearly the better player. McDaniels and G.M. Dave Ziegler clearly have done enough work to come to the conclusion that Carr should indeed be sticking around. The next question becomes how much will Carr get in his next contract.”
It won’t be what Rodgers received from Green Bay, but money isn’t everything. Carr has Adams — and Rodgers let it happen.
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