Green Bay Packers teammates Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Davante Adams thinks some competition will bring the best out of Aaron Rodgers
The Packers are banking on an unnatural QB timeline working out for them twice. Back in 2005, when the team drafted Rodgers while still having one of the best quarterbacks of all-time under contract, they were met with skepticism. Brett Favre, for one, did not take kindly to the decision. Yet, despite a messy divorce from Favre, the Packers escaped relatively unscathed.
With Rodgers, they may not be as lucky. The Cal product has already publicly accepted that he is unlikely to retire in Green Bay, a place he has grown to love and think of as home. In doing so, the Packers have opened up a door that can work out well for them, but follows the assumption that Jordan Love is a Pro Bowl-caliber player.
What’re the odds Jordan Love really works out, and are we sure Rodgers didn’t take this personally?
In short, the answer to both is “maybe.” At least in the case of Rodgers, all indications are he’s taken it well, and given time, will use it as fuel.
“I don’t think that it will have any type of affect on him,” Davante Adams said on a conference call with NFL media. “I don’t think it’s going to drive him to be a better player or have him sunk in a hole. I think Aaron’s a lot like me. I’m a lot like him. However you want to put it. Truly confident players who know what they’re capable of, and know what they’ve done, and that continue to work to be better than what they were, we don’t necessarily need [extra motivation]. Like I don’t care if they brought Julio Jones in here. That’s not going to necessarily make me work harder, because I’m already a workhorse, and I already know that I’m trying to be better than I was last year.”
That’s easy enough for Adams, a 27-year-old Pro Bowler at the top of his game who plays a position with multiple starting spots, to say. Rodgers, whose outlook grows gloomier as he gets closer to 40, may not be as lucky.
Even if it’s unrealistic, Matt LaFleur and the Packers better hope Rodgers takes Adams’ advice, and that Love is content on the bench for now.