The Green Bay Packers offered him more money, and Aaron Rodgers’ retirement timeline played a factor in his decision to leave.
Davante Adams confirmed much of what we already knew about his departure from the Green Bay Packers.
Adams, who was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in March, spoke with reporters on Thursday. He confirmed the Packers offered more money than the Raiders and the uncertainty regarding Rodgers’ future in football played into his decision to want to leave for Las Vegas.
It was about more than money for Adams.
“I’m sure you guys heard Green Bay offered this, which was higher than (what I got in Las Vegas), and I’ll say it, it’s true,” Adams said.
Adams signed a five-year deal with the Raiders that made him the NFL’s highest-paid receiver at the time.
“There’s much more that goes into it. And family is a big part of it for me,” Adams said. “I had the choice and the choice was for me to come here and raise my family on the West Coast and come out here and have some fun in the sun.”
Not knowing how much longer Rodgers would play also impacted Adams’ decision-making process. The four-time NFL MVP turns 39 in December and is working on a year-to-year timeframe, meaning the 2022 season could end up being his last in the NFL.
Adams wants to do big things during the second half of his career, and he wasn’t willing to put himself in a precarious situation in terms of the quarterback throwing him passes.
“He mentioned we had talks about his future and what he thinks his duration in Green Bay or just football in general would look like, and, you know, that played into my decision, as well,” Adams said. “Because where I am in my career — and this isn’t a shot at anybody, any other quarterbacks, in Green Bay, I love Jordan Love especially, he’s a great guy — but I got aspirations of doing really, really big things and being remembered, and I just wasn’t really a point in my career that I was willing to sacrifice Aaron not being there after a year or two. So my decision was to be here.”
In Las Vegas, Adams will get the security of playing with Derek Carr, a veteran quarterback, his college teammate and long-time friend. The two have worked out together for most of their NFL career.
All the pieces of Adams’ decision are now revealed. He loved Green Bay and playing with Rodgers, and the money was there with the Packers, but he wasn’t willing to give up moving closer to home, getting his family to the West Coast and playing with Carr for the potential of one or maybe two more years of playing with Rodgers.
Who could ever blame Adams?