Davante Adams landing spots: Best fits for WR with Jets set to release him if they can’t find a trade partner

After just 11 games, Davante Adams’ time with the New York Jets has come to an end. NFL Media reports that the Jets are taking trade calls on the three-time All-Pro pass-catcher. CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones reports that the overwhelming belief is that the Jets will end up releasing the 32-year-old.

There are two more years remaining on Adams’ current deal, and he carries cap hits of $38.3 million in both 2025 and 2026. If New York releases Adams OR trades him prior to June 1, the Jets would take on a $8,362,664 million dead cap hit in 2025 but save $29,978,002, per Spotrac.

The Jets traded for Adams prior to the trade deadline this past season, sending a conditional third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders to reunite Aaron Rodgers with his top wideout. The move didn’t help the Jets like the franchise hoped it would, as New York finished with a 5-12 record while general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh were fired. 

In 14 total games played for the Raiders and Jets last season, Adams caught 85 passes for 1,063 yards and eight touchdowns. It marked his fifth-straight season with 1,000 receiving yards, and Adams’ 103 career receiving touchdowns are the sixth-most through a player’s first 11 seasons all-time.

While a release appears more likely than a trade, let’s analyze a few potential landing spots for the six-time Pro Bowler. 

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Jordan Dajani

Davante Adams landing spots

By Garrett Podell

There’s been a public effort by the faces of the Packers to recruit Adams to return home to Green Bay. Packers All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney tweeted “Mannnnnnnnnn pull back up!” while tagging Adams’ account directly after he spoke about Green Bay’s potential desire to add a veteran receiver in the offseason on the “Up and Adams” show with Kay Adams. Adams himself highlighted a veteran wide receiver as one of Green Bay’s areas of need with the franchise fielding the youngest team in the NFL in both 2023 and 2024. Adams pointed out that wide receivers Romeo Doubs (suffered multiple head injuries, including one known concussion) and Christian Watson (torn ACL) are question marks in terms of health entering the 2025 season.

“You’ve got to see what’s up with Doubs and Christian. Obviously Romeo having a few plays this year where he ended up a little banged up and hit his head on the ground, you never know. It’s kind of that Tua situation where it could be a week, or it can extend out longer than that. We’ll see. I’m praying for him either way,” Adams said on the “Up and Adams” show. 

“It kind of depends on the health of the team. It’s looking right now like obviously they might need some receiver help in one way or the other just based off what they have available. … Maybe a veteran or something in there, we’ll see.”  

Packers Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs echoed the sentiment multiple times that Green Bay needs a veteran wide receiver on Radio Row at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. When quarterback Jordan Love was directly asked on the “Up and Adams” show about Adams, Love, who sat on the bench for the final two years of Adams’ Packers tenure, said he wouldn’t be mad at a Green Bay reunion.

“I’m not mad about it,” Love said. “Davante, that’s my guy. Obviously, I was with him for a good amount of time there in Green Bay my first couple seasons. I know exactly what type of player his. Phenomenal guy. … Just a great guy. You see it every week, the playmaking ability that he has. When I was with him, he dropped three passes in the years I saw him, so he is just a phenomenal receiver. Creates so much separation off the line, and then that’s his game. Killing guys off the line and making crazy catches and making big time plays. He’s a phenomenal receiver.”   

This move makes a lot of sense. The Packers young receivers can learn a thing or two from one of the NFL’s most precise route runners, and Love gets a go-to target in crucial third-down and red zone situations. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers were in hot pursuit of San Francisco wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk last offseason before he re-signed with the 49ers on a four-year, $120 million extension just before the start of the 2024 regular season. Van Jefferson wasn’t able to provide nearly enough veteran juice alongside youngsters in George Pickens and Calvin Austin this past season. Adams could help Pickens get his head on straight while teaching both him and Austin some finer points on route-running. Adams could also serve as a safety blanket for whoever the Steelers move forward with as their quarterback in 2025, perhaps Rodgers, with both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields set to become free agents.   

Washington reached agreement on a trade for Deebo Samuel this week, but the work at receiver may not be done. The two non-Terry McLaurin starting wide receivers — Dyami Brown and Olamide Zaccheaus — are free agents this offseason. Washington is also equipped to enter the 2025 offseason with the sixth-most effective cap space in the NFL. That gives them plenty of resources to utilize after quarterback Jayden Daniels’ 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year of season, a year in which Daniels set the NFL rookie records for completion percentage (69%) and rushing yards (891). 

Washington was a few pieces short of reaching the Super Bowl in the first season of Daniels’ career, falling against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game. Adams could provide the Commanders young quarterback another Pro Bowl-caliber option alongside McLaurin. 

Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix and Daniels are the only rookies in NFL history with at least 10 wins (10), 30 total touchdowns (34) and 4,000 total yards (4,207). Nix’s 29 passing touchdowns are the second-most in league history by a rookie, trailing only Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s 31 from the 2020 season. Head coach Sean Payton has his guy at the quarterback position, so maybe he looks to supply Nix with more firepower. 

Los Angeles returned to the playoffs in the first season under head coach Jim Harbaugh with an 11-6 record before faceplanting 32-12 in the opening round against the Houston Texans. Quarterback Justin Herbert threw a career-high four interceptions as the Texans secondary blanketed his receivers. The Chargers have two young wide receivers in 2023 first-round pick Quentin Johnston and 2024 second-round pick Ladd McConkey, but they could use a veteran, Pro Bowl-caliber option to complement the two youngsters. Los Angeles also possesses the fifth-most effective cap space in the NFL entering the offseason, according to OverTheCap.com. They have the room to get a redone contract done with Adams.