By Dianna Russini, Zack Rosenblatt, Tashan Reed, Vic Tafur and Jake Ciely

Just a week after the New York Jets made a head coaching change and fired Robert Saleh five games into his fourth season, the team made a second significant move, acquiring wide receiver Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday, according to reports League sources show.

According to the sources, the Raiders will receive a conditional third-round pick, which could become a second-round pick depending on Adams' performance. Specifically, the conditional third-rounder becomes a second-rounder if Adams makes first- or second-team All-Pro or if Adams is on the active roster for the AFC Championship Game or Super Bowl, a league source said.

According to a team source, the Raiders will not pay back Adams' base salary. His remaining base salary is approximately $11.59 million, according to Over the Cap.

The bulk of the trade was agreed upon before the Jets' game against the Buffalo Bills on Monday, and Adams flew to New Jersey that evening, league sources said.

The move reunites Adams with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The two formed one of the most productive quarterback-wide receiver duos of the last decade while playing for the Green Bay Packers. As a rookie in 2014, Adams caught Rodgers' 200th touchdown pass. He also caught Rodgers' 400th touchdown pass in 2020. Together with the Packers, they scored 67 more touchdowns over eight years – and a total of 622 completions for 7,590 yards in 108 games.

It appears to be a move that has been in the works since the Jets acquired Rodgers from Green Bay in April 2023. When the quarterback arrived, he listed Adams as one of the players the Jets would like to add, alongside a few former Packers (like Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, who they signed) and Odell Beckham Jr. It didn't materialize at the time , but when Adams' luck ran out in Las Vegas and he requested a trade in recent weeks, the Jets jumped to the forefront.

“I’m better because of him,” Rodgers told ESPN in 2020. “As a person and as a quarterback.”

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A six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, the 31-year-old Adams remains among the elite, as evidenced by his nine-catch, 110-yard outburst in the Raiders' Week 2 upset of Baltimore. But his best years came when Rodgers threw him the ball. Behind the scenes, Rodgers was pushing the Jets to acquire Adams, and general manager Joe Douglas called the Raiders several times — last year's trade deadline, this offseason — to reach out, but Las Vegas wasn't interested in moving him.

Adams was frustrated with the Raiders' quarterback play last season — he slammed his helmet on the turf in a Monday night game and said in the Netflix documentary “Receiver” that Jimmy Garoppolo would kill him. According to sources, he was upset when the coaching staff chose Gardner Minshew over Aidan O'Connell as the starter earlier that season; Adams felt O'Connell, who replaced Minshew at the top of the depth chart in Week 6, was the better passer.

In July, Adams said there was a “fresh plan,” but was there one? He left the Raiders during training camp for the birth of his first son, and while the team thought it would only be for a few days, Adams was gone for ten days. When he came back he said he didn't want to play in the second preseason game. Pierce said any healthy player would play, but Adams opted out because of muscle soreness.

It turns out Pierce was surprised when Adams called a meeting with the coach on Sept. 30, according to league sources. Adams told Pierce he wanted to move to a better team. The Raiders told Adams they would grant his wish because they didn't want players who didn't want to be there.

Pierce was asked last week where things went sideways with Adams.

“I don’t know,” Pierce said. “I think you have to ask Davante.”

When Las Vegas sent first- and second-round picks to the Packers in 2022, it was fresh off a playoff berth and thought Adams would give the team a shot at a Super Bowl. Since then, the Raiders have gone 16-24, and last October they fired the general manager (Dave Ziegler) and head coach (Josh McDaniels) who were in place when Adams arrived. A big reason Adams wanted to play with the Raiders in the first place was to reunite with Derek Carr, his quarterback at Fresno State. The two played 15 games together in 2022, and Adams recorded a career-high 180 targets, led the league in receiving touchdowns (15) and finished the game with the second-most receiving yards of his career (1,516). But the Raiders released Carr and chose Garoppolo to start in 2023. Garoppolo, McDaniels' preferred quarterback, was benched last season and released in March.

Adams has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury – his last appearance with the franchise was a loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3. The Raiders' top three receivers moving forward will be Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker and DJ Turner.

The obstacle to any Adams trade was the Raiders' insistence on getting back a second-round pick (which they compromised on) and the acquiring team paying Adams' entire remaining 2024 salary (which they didn't). The New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers also inquired about acquiring the star receiver while the Bills monitored the situation.

When Adams officially became available, the Jets expressed interest almost immediately, although there was some reluctance due to the financial aspect of a trade.

On the field, Adams' fit is obvious and makes sense, but it would be an exaggeration to say he solves all of the Jets' problems, even if he will form one of the NFL's most talented wide receiver duos with Garrett Wilson.

In 2020 – the first of Rodgers' back-to-back MVP seasons – Adams told ESPN that Rodgers “is the best quarterback in the NFL and I'm the best wide receiver in the NFL.” And I don't think anyone else is like us.”

But Rodgers is no longer the best quarterback in the NFL. In Week 5 at London, he had his worst game as a Jet and one of the worst of his career, the first time he threw two interceptions in the first quarter and only the sixth time in 235 games that he threw three interceptions in a game. He still shows his trademark arm talent and ability to make plays on the move, but he's banged up – he suffered a sprained ankle in the Week 5 loss to the Vikings – and sometimes plays like he's his age.

The Jets are hiring an (interim) head coach for the first time, Jeff Ulbrich. They have a tough part of the schedule ahead of them; After Monday's home loss to the Bills, they travel to Pittsburgh in Week 7 and, after a trip to Foxboro, host a home game against the Houston Texans on a short week on Thursday night.

Adams, Rodgers and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett had great success together in Green Bay in 2019-21, but that calculation also included Packers coach Matt LaFleur calling plays, not Hackett — and Hackett, although still on the staff, no longer calls plays the jets. Ulbrich stripped Hackett of his play-calling duties and replaced him with passing game coordinator Todd Downing, who was the Tennessee Titans' offensive coordinator in 2021-22. Downing's first game as offensive coordinator came against the Bills on Monday night, and the offense looked better but was far from elite.

There's also the matter of Wilson. The Jets' young star got off to a slow start this season and appeared visibly frustrated as he and Rodgers lacked chemistry in the first four games. How will the young receiver, who doesn't hide his emotions or frustrations, feel about Rodgers' best friend joining the team and becoming his favorite target?

Of course, having Adams join the fray should make life easier for Wilson, especially since defenses will no longer be able to focus all of their coverage attention on one receiver. Wilson struggled in four games to win matchups against his opponents' No. 1 corners. Teams can no longer double Wilson when Adams is on the other side, and Rodgers always says he'll throw it to whoever is open. But Wilson won't be the Jets' No. 1 receiver as long as Adams is there and Rodgers is the quarterback — and Wilson will be eligible for a contract extension for the first time this coming offseason. It's a situation and a relationship worth watching.

At the end of the day, Adams improves the Jets' offense. Wilson, Adams, Lazard and Mike Williams form a wide receiver quartet with significant potential. With a quality running back pairing in Breece Hall and rookie Braelon Allen and solid play from tight end Tyler Conklin, the Jets have the makings of a potent offense.

Rodgers is also 16 touchdowns shy of 500 in his career. Now Adams can catch that one too.

Fantasy effect

The Adams trade is good news for Rodgers, but bad news for Wilson. In Week 5, Wilson's incredible 22 targets became the second-lowest yardage total (101) of any receiver with more than 20 targets in a game (since 2000). Wilson saw 10 more targets in Week 6, and now Adams will come into play as Rodgers' best option.

Lazard and his relationship with Rodgers — particularly in the red zone — aren’t going away either. That means Adams is the new No. 1 and Wilson and Lazard are fighting for the No. 2 spot, similar to the Seattle fight between Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Wilson and Lazard are WR3s with the arrival of Adams, and Lazard now has the higher ceiling with the touchdown upside. Adams is a mid-level WR2 with the potential for WR1 numbers. — Jake Ciely, senior fantasy writer

(Top photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)