Before his fateful meeting with the Jets, Aaron Rodgers laid out a clear timeline to close pal Davante Adams.
The two had golfed on a Wednesday in February at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, and the quarterback told the wide receiver he would meet with the Jets on Thursday, and then they’d hit the links again Friday.
But a “very strange” meeting torpedoed those plans.
“And he was just in such a bad mood (after the meeting) that he hit me up and was like, ‘I’m not coming back, bro.’ He’s like, ‘This was horrible; they just disrespected me completely,’” Adams told The Athletic.
“I thought he was being a little dramatic at first. I’m like, ‘Bro, don’t paraphrase it. How did he say this?’ (But) that’s how he said it. And I was shocked because I didn’t think anybody had the balls to, for lack of better words, to hit him with it like that. Just flat out — ‘Yeah, I think we’re just gonna do something different. We’re gonna move in a different direction.’ It was shocking, but right from that moment, I knew there was no chance that I’d be back there.”
Rodgers revealed last week the details of that meeting with new coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey, who are turning a fresh page in Florham Park.
The future Hall of Fame quarterback said the meeting lasted 15 minutes, with Glenn not showing “ample respect” and also “running out of the room” to grab the general manager.
“That was kind of strange,” Rodgers said on the “Pat McAfee Show” last week. “I think we are going to have this long conversation. I’ve flown across the country, and 20 seconds in, he goes and he leans to the edge of his seat and says, ‘So, you want to play football?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’ And he was like, ‘We’re going in a different direction at quarterback.’
“I was kind of shocked. Not shocked because I didn’t think it was a possibility, but shocked because I just flew across the country and you could’ve told me this over the phone.”
With Rodgers out the door, Adams had no reason to remain with the team, and the Jets ultimately released him.
Adams performed well with the Jets, catching 67 balls for 854 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games, and believes he could have helped more had he arrived earlier.
The veteran debuted for the Jets in Week 7.
“The leader in me likes to think that if I was there earlier, I could have had a bigger impact and maybe changed some things — just the morale of the team, getting guys used to winning and that different type of culture, just kind of shifting that a little bit earlier,” Adams told the outlet. “But getting there (Oct. 15) is not an ideal time to make too many changes.”
Adams didn’t have to wait long to find work, with the Rams signing him to a two-year, $46 million deal while they try to chase down the Eagles.
He revealed that another NFC West power tried to land him, but poor messaging doomed the team.
“I was entertaining the Niners,” Adams told The Athletic, “but they were like, ‘We’re paying wholesale. We ain’t paying retail.’ I didn’t talk to them, but that’s what my agent told me — like five times, that quote. And I was like, ‘OK, well, I’m not a wholesale-type dude.’”
