Getty Image / Mike Stobe
Last season, Aaron Rodgers had to go through his first season without Davante Adams in almost a decade.
This season, he’s adapting to a whole new set of teammates.
One of those teammates might be able to be the elite receiver he was missing last season.
While speaking to the media yesterday, Rodgers compared Garrett Wilson to Davante Adams.
“Look,” Rodgers said Thursday, via John Pullano of the Jets’ website, “I love Davante, and I saw him this summer. He is in a category all by himself still. But, that 17 [Adams] reminds me of the other 17 [Wilson] as far as his ability to get in and out of breaks and his quick twitch at the line of scrimmage.”
Wilson’s career has had a very different trajectory at the start than Davante Adams’ did.
Adams didn’t reach 500 receiving yards in either of his first two seasons and finally broke out in year 3 with 997 yards and 12 touchdowns. He didn’t become a star until his 5th year in the league when he racked up an impressive 111 catches for 1386 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Wilson’s career hasn’t required nearly as much patience. He was the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year last season after racking up 1103 yards in his first year in the NFL. That success came in spite of horrendous quarterback play for the Jets.
Now Wilson gets the chance to play alongside a future Hall of Famer who will be able to put his ability to separate from defenders to good use.
Wilson was later asked about the comparison to Adams and revealed the former Packers star was his favorite receiver growing up and he tried to model some things in his game off of Adams.
“Yeah,” Wilson said. “I grew up watching him play and he was my favorite receiver growing up. … I try to take a lot of things from what he did well. But he is special, and you can see the lab work he puts in throughout the offseason and I am trying to get to that point.”
We are less than two months away from getting to see if Aaron Rodgers can be as successful with Garrett Wilson as he was with Davante Adams.