By Dianna Russini, Zack Rosenblatt, Tashan Reed and Vic Tafur

Just a week after the New York Jets made a head coaching change and fired Robert Saleh five games into his fourth season, the team made a second major move: On Tuesday, it acquired wide receiver Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders, according to league sources.

According to those sources, the Raiders will receive a conditional third-round pick who could become a second-round pick based on Adams’ performance. Specifically, the conditional third-rounder will become a second-rounder if Adams becomes a first- or second-team All-Pro, or if Adams is on the active roster for the AFC Championship Game or the Super Bowl, a league source said.

The Raiders will not pay Adams’ base salary, according to a team source. His remaining base salary is approximately $11.59 million, per Over the Cap.

The move reunites Adams with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The two formed one of the most productive quarterback-wide receiver duos of the past decade while playing for the Green Bay Packers. In 2014, Adams caught Rodgers’ 200th touchdown pass as a rookie. He also caught Rodgers’ 400th touchdown pass in 2020. Together with the Packers, they connected with 67 other touchdowns over eight years – and a total of 622 completions for 7,590 yards in 108 games.

It’s a move that seems like it’s been in the works since the Jets acquired Rodgers from Green Bay in April 2023. When the quarterback arrived, he named Adams as one of the players he would like the Jets to add, along with several other players. former Packers (like Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, whom they did sign) and Odell Beckham Jr. Things didn’t come to fruition then, but when Adams’ luck in Las Vegas fell apart and he requested a trade in recent weeks, the Jets caught the eye. to the foreground.

“I’m better because of him,” Rodgers told ESPN in 2020. “As a person and as a quarterback.”

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The 31-year-old Adams, a six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, remains among the elite, as evidenced by his nine-catch, 110-yard outburst during the Raiders’ Week 2 in Baltimore. But his best years came when Rodgers threw him the ball. Behind the scenes, Rodgers pressured the Jets to acquire Adams, and general manager Joe Douglas called the Raiders at multiple points (the trade deadline last year, this offseason) to check in, but Las Vegas wasn’t interested in to move him.

Adams was frustrated with the Raiders’ quarterback play last season — from slamming his helmet on the ground during a Monday night game to saying Jimmy Garoppolo would have him killed in the Netflix documentary “Receiver.” Sources say he was upset when the coaching staff went with Gardner Minshew over Aidan O’Connell as the starter to open this season; Adams felt O’Connell, who replaced Minshew at the top of the depth chart in Week 6, was the better passer.

In July, Adams said there was a “new slate,” but was it? He left the Raiders during training camp for the birth of his first son, and although the team thought it would only be for a few days, Adams was gone for 10 days. When he came back he said he didn’t want to play. in the second game of the preseason. Pierce said anyone who was healthy would play, but Adams couldn’t participate due to soreness.

Pierce, it turns out, was surprised when Adams set up a meeting with the coach on Sept. 30, league sources said. Adams told Pierce he wanted to be traded to a better team. The Raiders told Adams they would grant his wish because they don’t want players who don’t want to be there.

Pierce was asked last week what went wrong with Adams.

“I don’t know,” Pierce said. “I think you should ask Davante about that.”

When Las Vegas sent first- and second-round picks to the Packers in 2022, it was coming off a playoff berth and thought Adams was giving the team a shot at a Super Bowl. The Raiders are 16-24 since then, and last October they fired the general manager (Dave Ziegler) and head coach (Josh McDaniels) who were in place when Adams arrived. A big reason Adams wanted to play with the Raiders in the first place was to reunite with Derek Carr, his quarterback at Fresno State. The two played 15 games together in 2022, and Adams saw a career-high 180 targets, led the league in receiving touchdowns (15) and finished with the second-most receiving yards of his career (1,516). But the Raiders released Carr and opted to go with Garoppolo to start 2023. Garoppolo, McDaniels’ favorite quarterback, was benched last season and released in March.

Adams has missed the last three games due to a hamstring injury. His last appearance with the franchise was a loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3. The Raiders’ top three receivers are Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker and DJ Turner.

The obstacle to any Adams trade was the Raiders’ insistence on getting back a second-round pick (which they compromised on), plus the acquiring team paying all of Adams’ remaining 2024 salary (which they didn’t). The New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers also inquired about acquiring the star receiver, while the Buffalo Bills monitored the situation.

When Adams officially became available, the Jets showed interest almost immediately, although there was some reluctance due to the financial aspect of a trade.

On the field, Adams’ fit is clear and logical, but it would be a stretch to say he solves all of the Jets’ problems, even if he joins Garrett Wilson as one of the NFL’s most talented wide receiver duos will form.

In 2020 – the first of Rodgers’ back-to-back MVP seasons – Adams told ESPN that Rodgers “is the best quarterback in the NFL, and I’m the best wide receiver in the NFL. And the way we joke, I don’t think anyone else does it the same way we do.”

But Rodgers is no longer the best quarterback in the NFL. In Week 5 in London, he had his worst game as a Jet, and one of the worst of his career: the first time he has ever thrown two interceptions in the first quarter and only the sixth time in 235 games that he has thrown three interceptions in a game threw . He’s still showing flashes of his trademark arm talent and ability to play on the move, but he’s banged up (he suffered a low ankle sprain in the Week 5 loss to the Vikings) and sometimes plays like his age.

The Jets bring in an (interim) head coach for the first time in Jeff Ulbrich. There’s a tough part of the schedule coming up; After Monday’s home loss to the Bills, they travel to Pittsburgh in Week 7 and, after a trip to Foxboro, host a Thursday night home game against the Houston Texans in a short week.

Adams, Rodgers and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett had great success together in Green Bay in 2019-21, but that calculation also included Packers coach Matt LaFleur calling plays, not Hackett — and Hackett, while still on staff, no longer calling plays with the Jets. Ulbrich stripped Hackett of his play-calling duties and replaced him with passing game coordinator Todd Downing, who served as the Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator in 2021-22. Downing’s first game as offensive coordinator was Monday night against the Bills, and the offense looked better, but far from elite.

There’s also the Wilson issue. The Jets’ young star got off to a slow start this season and seemed visibly frustrated as his chemistry with Rodgers failed to blossom in the first four games. How will the young receiver, who doesn’t hide his emotions and frustration, feel about Rodgers’ best friend joining the team and becoming his favorite target?

Of course, Adams’ inclusion in the fray should make Wilson’s life easier, especially since defenses will no longer be able to divert all their attention to one receiver. Wilson struggled to win matchups against opposing No. 1 corners through four games. Teams can’t double-team Wilson anymore when Adams is on the other side, and Rodgers always says he’ll throw it to whoever is open. But Wilson won’t be the Jets’ No. 1 receiver as long as Adams is there and Rodgers is the quarterback — and Wilson will be eligible for a contract extension for the first time this coming offseason. It’s a situation and a relationship worth watching.

Ultimately, Adams makes the Jets’ offense better. Wilson, Adams, Allen Lazard and Mike Williams form a wide receiver quartet with significant potential. With a good running back combination in Breece Hall and rookie Braelon Allen, and solid play from Tyler Conklin, the Jets have the makings of a high-powered offense.

Moreover, Rodgers is 16 touchdowns short of 500 in his career. Now Adams can catch it too.

(Top photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)