The Green Bay Packers were able to keep star quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the fold this offseason, but ended up trading Davante Adams away to the Las Vegas Raiders. Rodgers and Adams had been one of the NFL's premier dynamic duos over the past few years, and headlined an explosive offense that won 13 games in three straight seasons.
How Rodgers will fare without Adams and how Adams will fare without Rodgers are two big storylines heading in to the 2022 season. Packers legend Brett Favre says his former team will probably be OK, but as for Adams, he's expecting him to take a step backwards from the 1,553-yard, 11-touchdown campaign he had in 2021.
"No disrespect to Davante at all -- zero disrespect. I do think that Davante will make Derek Carr better and, in time, they will be a dynamic duo. Now will it be the duo that Aaron and Davante had? Time will tell," Favre told TMZ. "I think Derek Carr's a very good quarterback, but he's not in Aaron's league yet. And may never be, and that's no disrespect either, but I do think that Davante owes a great deal of gratitude to Aaron and the Packers drafting him. That's not to say he's not a great player because he is a tremendous player and we'll see that with Las Vegas. But it's just hard to shift gears, especially from a player as prolific as Aaron Rodgers. I'd be shocked if he had the same year he's had the previous year. That's not to say he can't do it, but I would be shocked."
Favre did say that you can't replace a player like Adams, but he believes Rodgers will be able to rely on Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon on the ground and in play-action, and then pick his shots downfield.
Rodgers is someone who has proven he can win with whatever is around him. Back in Week 8 last year, he took down the last undefeated team in the Arizona Cardinals without Adams and Allen Lazard. Adams played just one game without Rodgers in 2021, a 13-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in which he caught six passes for 42 yards from Jordan Love. It's true that Carr is a better quarterback than Love, but Adams will have to prove that he can be the best wide receiver in the NFL without Rodgers. It's what Vegas paid him for.
