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Adams Believes Experience with Rodgers Will Help Receiver Corps

Meanwhile, Davante Adams took exception with NFL Network's "Top 100 Players" list.
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – With no hot-shot draft pick or veteran receiver added to the mix, the Green Bay Packers’ receiver corps once again will revolve around Davante Adams.

Adams, a three-time Pro Bowler with an NFL-high 40 receiving touchdowns the past four seasons, is the only sure thing among Aaron Rodgers’ crop of pass catchers. If Green Bay’s passing game is going to be more effective in Year 2 under coach Matt LaFleur, it will be up to someone to emerge from Adams’ unheralded group of sidekicks.

The line will start behind Allen Lazard.

Lazard, who didn’t even make the opening roster out of training camp last season, caught 35-of-52 passes (67.3 percent) for 477 yards (13.6 average) and three touchdowns. Those numbers ranked second among the team’s receivers, even though he played in only 11 games. Projected to 16 games, that works out to 51 receptions, 694 yards and four touchdowns. For Rodgers, it’s always about trust. That trust showed on third down. Lazard finished second on the team in third-down receptions (13). He had more third-down catches that resulted in first downs (12) then fellow receivers Geronimo Allison (six) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (five) combined.

“Allen Lazard (has) shown that he’s a really talented player on the field, and he’s coming into his own confidence-wise,” Adams said. “I think once you start to have that true confidence, it’s not just something you’re saying. If somebody asks you who’s the best receiver in the league and you just say it’s yourself, that’s what you’re supposed to say because that’s the right thing to say receiver mentality-wise. But once you start to truly believe you’re a really, really good player, that’s when you start to have an Allen Lazard.”

Lazard will joined by, among others, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Equanimeous St. Brown and Jake Kumerow. Valdes-Scantling and St. Brown were drafted in 2018, and 2018 was Kumerow’s first training camp.

While the Packers didn’t add anyone with pedigree in the offseason, Adams’ hope is their experience with Rodgers will lead to a greater connection.

“You know what it’s like dealing with Aaron Rodgers,” Adams said. “The attention to detail is at an all-time high. So, you’re starting to see that awareness start to raise and I think we’re going to be in a really good spot going into this year.”

Adams is coming off another prolific season. Even while dealing with a toe injury that sidelined him for four games and limited his run-after-catch prowess, he finished with 83 receptions for 997 yards and five touchdowns. Adams’ production over 12 games equates to 111 receptions for 1,329 yards over a full season.

Still, Adams fell from No. 35 to No. 57 in NFL Network’s “Top 100 Players” series. Adams took exception to the ranking on Twitter and called it meaningless on Tuesday.

“I don’t believe the players had anything to do with the list this year,” Adams said as part of an extensive answer in the accompanying video. “A bunch of people reached out to me and said that they didn’t even vote, so they don’t even know what algorithm is being used to come up with that thing. I don’t let that stuff bother me. I don’t really care. … As it pertains to me being 57, I clearly don’t agree with that. There’s a lot of people who agree that there’s not 56 players better than me in the league. That’s going to continue to be shown through my work this upcoming season.”