Davante Adams has no regrets about asking out of Green Bay two years ago.
"I’m like the poster child for you make a decision you live it," Adams said recently on The Rush Podcast with Raiders teammate Maxx Crosby.
He knew Aaron Rodgers' time was coming to an end with the Packers and he wanted to go to a place where there was familiarity at quarterback who had NFL experience. Jordan Love, an unknown at the time, was next in line in Green Bay but Adams wasn't interested in starting over.
That was enough for Adams to seek out a trade to the Las Vegas Raiders to play with former college teammate Derek Carr.
But the Raiders quarterback situation hasn't been stable since he arrived and Carr is long gone.
The Packers' quarterback situation with Jordan Love these days?
Well, it sounds like Adams would like to have Love throwing him passes. As Adams sees it, "the kid is a (f------) baller, man."
Adams opened up about his departure from the Packers, Love and his early years in Green Bay on the podcast.
Here are a few takeaways.
Davante Adams on leaving the Packers
Adams spent eight seasons with the Packers after being a second-round draft pick out of Fresno State in 2014.
He became a multi-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro and is among the team's all-time statistical leaders in several wide receiving categories.
But after the Packers put the franchise tag on him in 2020, he asked for a trade. Some of it had to do with the team's future at quarterback and the opportunity to reunite with a friend and established quarterback.
"I don’t regret anything. But not that I doubted (Jordan) in any way, I seen the potential, but it was similar to what we saw early in the (2023) season is what I was able to watch while I was in Green Bay. Aaron’s in there, all the reps are with him. We built what we built up. Basing it off of that and having a young guy that had no experience with me it’s tough to stay in that situation and say this what’s best for me for sure. At one point, Derek’s an MVP candidate. He solidified my decision to come here."
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Davante Adams on Jordan Love
Adams was teammates with Love for two seasons after the Packers picked the quarterback with the 25th overall selection in the 2020 NFL draft.
Love didn't play in a regular season game those years as Aaron Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs and the Packers were the No. 1 seed in the NFC both years.
To him, there weren't signs of a budding star in Love.
"At the time when I was there I hadn’t necessary seen enough to say this is for sure what I should do," Adams said of Love.
Now?
"In hindsight, the kid is a (f------) baller, man," Adams said of Love. "I’m so happy for him. I haven’t had a chance to truly sit down and talk with him. I wanted to tell him at some point. I definitely don’t regret changing (teams) but I’m super proud of what you’d done and if there was a way I could pull you here and drag you with me, that would have been cool, too."
Love led the Packers to the playoffs in his first year as the starting quarterback and now the hype is building around him as he enters his second year and becomes the clear face of the franchise.
"Obviously, we saw what he did at the end of the year," Adams said. "I don’t regret what I did but at the same time it’s definitely you look back, man, that boy kind of balling right now."
Asked if he could be "the next one," Adams said Love is already there.
"I think he is, he’s shown that," Adams said. "He’s starting to come into his own. You see the way he’s talking in front of the media. He’s like a whole different person than what I saw when I was there and that comes with experience."
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Davante Adams during his early days with the Packers
Like Love, it took Adams a while to settle in during his NFL career.
He acknowledged that in the podcast.
"My first year I’m playing with two Pro Bowlers," Adams said in playing behind Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb. "I’m a clear (No.) 3 at this point, I wasn’t ready to be ready getting 100-plus targets in a season. I came in, didn't have much expectations. I was a kid out of Fresno State.
"I came in did well enough that first year."
Then his second year, he was thrust into the No. 1 spot after Jordy Nelson tore his ACL during the preseason.
It didn't go well for Adams.
"That year was just not it," Adams said. "I think it was Week 2, I hurt my ankle. I missed like three games that year because of it. I was fighting through it all year. I was behind every ball, dropping stuff and I wasn’t able to put the best version of me out there."
Adams finished that season with 50 catches for 483 yards and one touchdown. But it was a stepping stone to bigger and better things with the Packers as he became one of the franchise's all-time greats. And now he continues to put up impressive numbers despite the Raiders' revolving door at quarterback.
