Former Jets QB doubles down on trade claim about Raiders' Davante Adams

Former New York Jets quarterback and current NFL analyst Boomer Esiason generated headlines when he said during Monday's edition of the WFAN morning show that the Jets trading for star Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams could happen "somewhere in late August" or in "early September."

During Tuesday's "Boomer and Gio" episode, Esiason doubled down on his claim.

"I do believe that where there is smoke, there is fire," Esiason explained, as shared by Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "And I do believe that Davante Adams will be a Jet. I really do. I don’t see how it doesn’t happen."

While Adams suggested last week that he's committed to staying with the Raiders through at least the start of the 2024 season, Jets starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers raised eyebrows when he later said that he "can't wait to play with [Adams] again." The two were teammates with the Green Bay Packers from 2014 through the 2021 season before Adams agreed to a five-year, $141.25M contract to join the Raiders via a trade from the Packers in March 2022.

Green Bay traded Rodgers to the Jets in April 2023.

"The question will be compensation going back to the Raiders and absorbing or either extending Davante Adams," Esiason noted. "If [the Jets] don’t win this year, and something goes awry, guess what? They’re all getting canned…they’re gonna go all in."

Esiason still has ties to the Jets and warned during the winter that team owner Woody Johnson could clean house and move on from Rodgers, general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh if the club's playoff drought extends to 14 consecutive seasons. Rodgers accepted a pay cut last summer to help the Jets build around him through the 2024 campaign but turns 41 years old this coming December and is working to recover from the torn Achilles he suffered last September.

"In my eyes, you got an unhappy wide receiver in Las Vegas," Esiason said about Adams. "The last thing you want on your team is an unhappy wide receiver, especially one that is going to the Hall of Fame."

By all accounts, the Raiders hope that Adams will help either 2023 fourth-round draft pick Aidan O'Connell or journeyman Gardner Minshew become a winning quarterback for the team this season. Adams may want to link back up with Rodgers sooner rather than later, but it's unclear if Las Vegas will make the 31-year-old available to the Jets this summer.