Davante Adams: 2015 Packers Player Report Card

Davante Adams

  • Age: 23
  • Ht./Wt: 6'1", 215lbs
  • College: Fresno State
  • NFL Experience: 2 years

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Expectations coming into the season:  After closing out the 2014 season with an impressive game in the NFC Divisional Playoff, everyone thought he would shine with Aaron Rodgers feeding him on the outside. The trust between the quarterback and receiver had been slowly increasing all year. 

Player’s highlights/low-lights: Adams' highlight came in Week 9. He caught seven balls for 93 yards at Carolina. However, things turned sour quickly in Week 12. He was targeted 11 times, but he only caught two balls for 14 yards. 

Level of Expectations met:  Not even close. He was supposed to be groomed as a potential No. 1 down the road. However, he proved time and time again that he could not be trusted by Rodgers or by coach Mike McCarthy. 

Grade: D-

Player’s contributions to team success:  When you cannot get much separation, when you drop 12 balls and when you only get in the end zone one time, there isn't a lot of production there. Adams epitomized the expression Sophomore Slump this year. 

Grade: D-

Player’s contributions in the playoffs:  Adams had a modest game in the NFC Wild Card Game at Washington. He caught four balls for 48 yards and one touchdown. A sprained MCL in his right knee kept him out of the NFC Divisional Playoff at Arizona. 

Grade: C

Intangibles/misc: Adams is one of the biggest question marks on the Packers' receiving corps heading into next season, right under the health of Jordy Nelson. General manager Ted Thompson must decide next year if Adams' 2015 nightmare was just an aberration or if it was truly the start of another Jarrett Boykin. Adams has shown flashes of being a reliable pass-catcher, but with a quarterback like Rodgers, flashes aren't going to cut it. 

Grade: D

 

Overall Grade:  D

 

 

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Cory Jennerjohn is a graduate from UW-Oshkosh and has been in sports media for over 15 years. He was a co-host on "Clubhouse Live" and has also done various radio and TV work as well. He has written for newspapers, magazines and websites. He currently is a columnist for CHTV and also does various podcasts. He recently earned his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. He can be found on Twitter: @Coryjennerjohn

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Comments (28)

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Packer_Pete's picture

February 10, 2016 at 05:22 am

"However, he proved time and time again that he could not be trusted by Rodgers or by coach Mike McCarthy. " Yet they kept playing him over the other younger WRs... Must be because he basically is a "pro bowl type player" as our QB said...

Reportedly Adams and Rodgers worked together a lot after Jordy went down. If they did then the results were extremely poor. Especially on back shoulder throws where there seemed to be no understanding between them at all.

his big strength was supposed to be catching everything, as he did in college when he played with Carr. For all of that, he was truly terrible this season. Can only be an F- from my side.

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NickPerry's picture

February 10, 2016 at 06:16 am

Excellent points Pete, especialy WHY did they keep playing him over Abby (When Healthy) or Janis. I truely believed he'd be the next great WR the Packers picked in the 2nd round.

I'm not giving him a pass, but I still have a ton of hope for Adams, even after I blasted him during the regular season and called him a "Bust".
First Adams was really expected take Jordy's spot in this offense or at the very least not have the HUGE dropoff the Packers had on the offensive side of the ball. Go look at Nelsons stats for his career, his coming out party was his 21st game of his 3rd season, SB 45. Then look at Adams stats. The numbers aren't much different at all. I also considered how YOUNG Adams is. He turned 23 in week 16 this past season. He was barely old enough to have a beer his Rookie Season.

McCarthy put so much pressure on this kid this past summer it's unbelievable. You have a 22 year old kid who's expected to pick up what the Packers lost when Nelson was injured. Calling him the Preseason MVP didn't help either. The Expectations placed on this kid were just flat out infair, especially after having just 2 "Breakout Games" the year before.

But my main point is HE DIDN'T HAVE A POSITION COACH!! McCarthys idea to combine the WR and QB into one coaching position blew up in his face to put it nicely. Whats even MORE concerning is they still haven't named a WR coach AND this coaching staff is still top heavy.

Davante deserved the poor grade, but his Head Coach and to a lessor degree his WR Coach deserve more.

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Packer_Pete's picture

February 10, 2016 at 06:43 am

Great points Nick, and I agree. the Packers desperately need a WR coach. Whether that is van Pelt if he gives up being QB coach also, I don't know. I doubt it. But they need a WR coach who doesn't do anything but coach WRs. Especially with all the young guys around. looking back, when all the WRs were drafted in rounds 2 and 3, Jennings, Nelson, Jones, etc, they had Jimmy Robinson. He probably more than anyone else contributed to their success.

I get the idea of having a combined QB and WR coach, improving the communication, and making the WRs seeing the same on the field as the QB does. And I think that can work. IF you have polished NFL WRs already. but in a draft and develop team, as the Packers undoubtedly are, with most of the WRs in either their first or second year, that simply cannot and will not work. So that idea should be banned.

And while McCarthy placed very high expectations on him, maybe unfairly, so did Rodgers with his "pro bowl type" player saying. sometimes team leaders should tone down a little and maybe shut up from time to time when talking to team outsiders, especially reporters. He could've said "if he continues to work hard and works on improving, he could become pretty good". But he came out with the pro bowl type talk, and let's face it, we all expected a great player with some miracle catches as a result. Instead, we got a guy who couldn't stay healthy and couldn't catch the damn ball even if it hit him square in his hands.

Not having a WR coach and having high expectations certainly played a major role (besides the injuries) of why Adams wasn't good at all this season. At the same time, I just cannot give him a pass on anything. He dropped too many balls that were catchable. I get that not all balls will be caught, and we have seen star WRs drop passes, but no matter what, if one wants to be an NFL WR then he has to catch most or almost all balls that are catchable. Adams this season did not. He dropped balls that Driver or Nelson would've caught in their sleep.

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SpudRapids's picture

February 10, 2016 at 12:54 pm

So let's talk about the setting of expectations for Adams. It's easy for all of you to say that McCarthy and Rodgers talking him up was a bad idea, you have the benefit of hindsight. If you think back to Adams rookie season his two biggest games were two of the biggest games the Packers played last year. New England in the regular season and Dallas in the playoffs. He shined then on the biggest stage. Can we all agree it's plausible that McCarthy and Rodgers saw that and said "hey this kid thrives under pressure/spotlight, we should push him more."? That seems pretty reasonable to me. Now when you factor in that he was injured early in the season right after even heavier expectations were put on him (Nelson injury) it may have been too much for him when he was used to being surrounded by star receivers. I personally think he was pressing, trying to do too much and his play suffered. I don't think that is grounds for casting him aside and calling him a bust. Adams is still very young and raw at this point in his career. Let's see how he bounces back from a disappointing season before we rush to judgement on him and let's see how Rodgers/McCarthy do on getting him back into form before we judge their handling of him.

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Samson's picture

February 11, 2016 at 12:15 am

Of course you're correct. --- The response by fans to Adam's dismal season in 2015 is typical. -- Packfans love to have their whipping boys. -- But the truth is simple. DA is a high round draft pick. -- He had a good rookie season who could bounce back in a big way in 2016.

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NickPerry's picture

February 11, 2016 at 06:42 am

When they lost Robinson I thought that was a huge coaching loss. You bring up great points Pete, especially about the drops (OMG the Drops) and the injuries. I think Bennett was a pretty good WR coachsince he was the one who coached Cobb, Adams his rookie year, and even Boykin to a respectable season.

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DrealynWilliams's picture

February 10, 2016 at 09:52 am

So, do you still feel he's a bust or were you just emotional at the time?

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NickPerry's picture

February 11, 2016 at 06:53 am

I think we'll find out quickly this next season which way Adams career might go. He did so little this year it was pretty hard to look at him any other way. I mean some of those drops, never beating one on ones against what was the other teams 3rd or 4th best CB.

I'm a emotional Packers fan, but the way Adams played last year had many suggesting he was a "Bust", not just myself. To answer the question I'll call it a Sophomore Slump and a combination of some of my thoughts in previous comments for now. What do you think?

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DrealynWilliams's picture

February 11, 2016 at 10:54 am

Don't get me wrong, I was frustrated with Adams as well. I even attempted to take away any compliment I've ever given him (ha). But the "bust" thing I could never say about a player who shined in his rookie season and received so much praise from his QB and head coach coming inot his 2nd. He showed up in a couple of games this season. He was wildly inconsistent, but who wasn't within our Offense? We have to stop expecting so much from players (especially WRs) so quickly.

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Ibleedgreenmore's picture

February 10, 2016 at 06:09 am

I think that pretty much covered it. Man just the time we need the guy he goes into hiding. I knew it was going to be hard without Jordy Nelson but this was the dagger in the back of the receiving group.

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RCPackerFan's picture

February 10, 2016 at 06:42 am

Adams had an awful year.
I do believe that he was playing hurt at the beginning of the year and during that time it affected his play which then made him lose confidence.
It was a terrible year for him.

That being said the last 2 games that he played in he really started to come on. He was starting to make some plays that in the beginning of the year he wasn't making.
That leads me to believe he is going to take off next year.

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Razer's picture

February 10, 2016 at 07:22 am

... he is going to take off next year...

I hope that you mean that he is going to soar. He already 'took off' a year.

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RCPackerFan's picture

February 10, 2016 at 07:30 am

bazinga...

Yeah, I mean he is going to take a step upwards next year.

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JerseyAl's picture

February 10, 2016 at 08:05 am

that was funny...

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Handsback's picture

February 10, 2016 at 10:14 am

I think this is the heart of the matter as it concerns to Adams. Both of the receivers that were going to make a difference with Jordy out became injured. I have to think the guy is more like last year when close to 100% vs. this past year when he was probably playing at 80%. I blame most of the WR corp issues on the coaching staff. They should have benched Adams to help his healing and confidence which would have help the young guns get the experience they needed. Hindsight is always 20/20, and I'm not sure if my speculation is right.
Let's give him another healthy season to see what he can do.

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Razer's picture

February 10, 2016 at 07:20 am

Maybe one of the worst seasons for a promising player that I ever saw. Typically, a player would be sat or their involvement reduced but MM kept throwing him into the fire to see if he could forge a receiver out of the kid. Didn't happen. Saw a guy crying for flags more than fighting for balls. The total fail has me worried that he doesn't have the horsepower to be a top receiver in this league.

Totally agree on the WR coach. Van Pelt is not a WR coach - part-time or other. A true WR coach would have helped this WR corps immensely. There are WRs throughout the league who are making impacts from day one. Waiting 3 years for a guy to 'come around' is nonsense and wasted time. Get a coach!

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SpudRapids's picture

February 10, 2016 at 01:00 pm

You can't just sit guys when everyone isn't healthy! Remember Abbredaris wasn't even on the roster until Oct. 3rd. I think we all saw Montgomery was taking playing time from Adams until he went down. That whole WR corps wasn't fully healthy at any time and that's why a lot of their play suffered including Cobb.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

February 10, 2016 at 07:33 am

Fair analysis and grade, and fair comments, though I am not sold on blaming the combining of the WR and QB coach. Might have been a factor. We have to hope a fair amount of his issues were due to injury and inexperience running the full route tree.

Way too much pressure and anointing done in preseason. Bad coach, bad QB.

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DrealynWilliams's picture

February 10, 2016 at 09:50 am

Good points.

Didn't he catch a lot (a lottttt) of bubble screens and hitch routes at Fresno State? I think the hype got to him as well.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

February 11, 2016 at 09:55 pm

Adams ran slants, bubble screens, drags, come backs and go routes. A lot of lateral stuff with Derek Carr throwing the ball to him, Drealyn.

I wrote my line about Adams - he does everything well except get open - in a previous article, and you asked what I did like about him. I did respond at some length, but several days later so I never knew if you saw my answer. Briefly, Adams has good hands (I think the drops were an aberration), good height and weight with quite long arms (32 5/8ths). He is fast enough. Obviously he can jump, but he can also time his jump and can track the ball over both shoulders (remember JJ having some problems early in his career with over the shoulder catches?). Not too much bounce when he leaves the line, and has an effective stutter step. After catching the ball he turns up field in a hurry (maybe this is the cause of his drops this year), and is elusive. Can work underneath inside or outside and should be a good red zone target. Fluid athlete who on slants presents a nice target with a large catch radius.

He did not run the full route tree. He often hesitated at the snap, not moving for a moment, ¨but it is something that he is going to want to all but eliminate at the NFL level." [withthefirstpick.com]. Several sites wondered if he would have trouble with jams and noted lazy, rounded routes, while others wrote that he needed to be more precise in his routes. In fact, there seems to be some difference in opinion regarding his route running. Another mentioned that Adams would not be a good fit for a team like NE.

http://withthefirstpick.com/2014/02/13/2014-nfl-draft-scouting-report-da...

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zoellner25's picture

February 10, 2016 at 08:51 am

"D" is about right. Not bad for 2nd rounder. I hope he reads this.

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PortlandMark's picture

February 10, 2016 at 11:59 am

I think his playoff grade should have been higher. He was targeted 4 times and caught all 4 including at TD. He couldn't improve on that. I also have hope for him to rebound next year.

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Since'61's picture

February 10, 2016 at 04:04 pm

He hurt the team too often in 2015. If we had any depth left after all the injuries he should have been sat down by mid-season. I don't see him making the jump to our #1 receiver down the road. To me, 2016 is make or break for Adams. Thanks, Since '61

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DrealynWilliams's picture

February 11, 2016 at 11:01 am

Unless Ty,Abby and Janis have breakout years - no way this is a make or break season for Adams.

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barutanseijin's picture

February 11, 2016 at 04:50 am

We'd be laughing at him if he were a Bear, Viking or Lion.

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packsmack's picture

February 11, 2016 at 09:26 am

Someone on Twitter was asking for a better way to describe an interception that isn't a QB's fault. The first response was "A Davante Adams." That pretty much sums it up.

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egbertsouse's picture

February 11, 2016 at 12:23 pm

Why they let this guy take up a roster spot is beyond me.

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J0hn Denver's Gavel's picture

February 11, 2016 at 02:51 pm

Keep playing him, coach! He's bound to turn it around sooner or later!

Favorite Play of 2015 involving DaDropte:
During his torrid drop stretch, He caught a ball for a 1st down and started celebrating on the field so much a flag was thrown.

The guy was comically bad last year. Worst staring receiver in the NFL, bar none. He has nowhere to go but up, I suppose. MM sure isn't afraid to lose with him.

Why did MM want to lose so bad last year, anyways?

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