• Davante Adams reunites with Luke Getsy: The former Green Bay Packers assistant coach reunites with the former Packers All-Pro receiver, which could keep him as a fantasy starter for at least one more year.
• Adams receiving grade declines: Adams received his lowest PFF receiving grade since 2017, which may be a sign Adams’ best days are behind him.
• Get a head start on fantasy football: Use PFF's fantasy football mock draft simulator to create real live mock draft simulations to get ready for your live draft!
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The player profile series gives the most in-depth view of a player possible using the best data points at PFF’s disposal to look at how good the player has performed, what competition the player has for touches, and how other teammates and coaches will impact each player's performance.
Last updated: 7:15 a.m. Saturday, July 13
Player performance
Adams is a future Hall of Fame receiver who ranges from very good to elite at everything. Unsurprisingly, he hasn’t played as well without Aaron Rodgers. His catch rate was in the 70’s in 2020 and 2021, which fell to 55.6% in 2022 and 58.9% in 2023. Even though his routes per game have remained high, his receiving raw stats have declined.
He will be 32 years old by the end of the season, and his decrease in avoided tackles per game is noteworthy because his receptions per game barely changed from 2022 to 2023. His PFF receiving grade declined, although it was still very good. His touchdown total declined which moved him from a top-five fantasy receiver to a top 10.
Competition for touches
Even though Adams might not be the same player he was a year or two ago, his utilization and competition for targets are a big reason why Adams hasn’t seen a large decrease in ADP. He remains among the league leaders in route snap percentage, target share, first read target percentage and end zone target share. Simply put, even if he’s less efficient with his receptions, he will still record tons of receptions.
The Las Vegas Raiders made a few changes on the roster who could both help and hurt Adams. Brock Bowers was added to the Raiders after being the clear top tight end in the draft class, replacing Austin Hooper on the roster. Bowers will see more targets than Hooper did, taking away from Michael Mayer and also likely taking away a little from the wide receivers in general.
Las Vegas added Michael Gallup and Jalen Guyton at wide receiver, both of whom have a lot of experience but not a lot of production. They will compete with Tre Tucker for snaps in three-receiver sets. The Raiders let go of Hunter Renfrow, who led the team in snaps, targets and receptions from the slot. This could be a benefit for Adams because he averages more yards per route run in the slot compared to out wide. This could help him remain efficient as a receiver.
Impact of teammates
The Raiders will have a quarterback competition between Gardner Minshew II and Aidan O’Connell. Adams averaged slightly more fantasy points with O’Connell than without him last year. It’s not going to be a great situation this year, but at least both quarterbacks tend to throw to wide receivers more than most.
The big reason to be excited for Adams this year is he is reunited with Luke Getsy, who became the Packers wide receiver coach in 2016 — when Adams went from 483 yards and one touchdown to 997 yards and 12 touchdowns. In 2017, Adams earned his first Pro Bowl bid.
Getsy then left for the offensive coordinator job at Mississippi State before returning to be the Packers' quarterback coach. In 2020, Getsy added passing game coordinator to his title, which is also when Adams earned his first All-Pro season. Getsy remained passing game coordinator in 2021 when he finished as a first-team All-Pro again. Last season, the Raiders had coaches who had a past history with Jakobi Meyers, which helped Meyers, particularly early in the season. Now, they have a coach who knows how to get the best out of Adams. The reunion is something Adams is excited about and is likely a big reason he’s willing to stay with the Raiders rather than seek a trade.
Bottom line
Adams’ days of being a top-three fantasy wide receiver are likely behind him unless he finds his way to another elite quarterback. Even though he might not be the same player at 31 years old, his utilization and lack of competition for targets is elite and being reunited with Getsy gives reason to believe he could be better in 2024 than he was in 2023.
Footnotes
- Statistics for the tables and charts were generally chosen based on their ability to predict future fantasy performance on either per game or per opportunity basis, or chosen for their ability to describe the player relative to other players at the same position.
- Opportunities for this purpose are defined by passing dropbacks, rushing attempts and receiving routes run.
- Numbers are either by season or based on the last three years. For rookies, only college numbers are included. For non-rookies, only NFL numbers are included, even if they played in college in the last three years.
- Because college competition is relatively easier than NFL competition, it can be expected that most rookies will see a decline in their numbers compared to their historic numbers.
- For all of the tables in this article, colors range from blue (good or high) to red (bad or low).
- All percentiles or colors compare the given player to other players with a high sample of opportunities. Generally, it’s one-third of the possible opportunities given the sample. If the player in question doesn’t have enough opportunities, they are still compared, even though a player could look good or bad on that small sample size which might not be as predictive.
- Information on running back utilization classifications and importance can be found here, wide receiver here and tight end here.
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