The Packers unloaded Davante Adams, and they surprisingly didn’t get that much for him – just first- and second-round picks. They have, however, shown that they can win without their star.
I was poking around with the numbers some on this. Since Matt LaFleur showed up, Green Bay has played seven games without Davante Adams. They won all of them. And four of those were what I would I would call notable wins – upset wins at Kansas City, New Orleans and Arizona, and 34-24 win over the Cowboys back in 2019.
This is not to suggest, however, that they won’t miss Adams. In only one of those games did they get an Adams-type receiving game (when Allen Lazard caught 6 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown in a Sunday night win at New Orleans). The other games, in general, featured better than usual play from other positional groups. I remember, for example, Aaron Jones turning a short catch into a long touchdown at Arrowhead.
Aaron Rodgers didn’t put up his usual Rodgers-type numbers in those seven games. They’ll need to pick up a wide receiver or two with some chops to get him up to where he’s playing at a high level.
Below are the numbers for all of the wide receivers in the seven games without Adams the last three years. They also played three games without him in the 2017-18 seasons, but I’m not listing those – Rodgers was also missing in those games, and they were played under a different coaching staff.
| GREEN BAY WIDE RECEIVERS WITHOUT DAVANTE ADAMS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opponent | Player | Tgt | No | Yds | Lg | TD |
| 2019 | Dall. (W 34-24) | Geronimo Allison | 6 | 2 | 28 | 22 | 0 |
| 2019 | Dall. (W 34-24) | M. Valdes-Scantling | 4 | 1 | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| 2019 | Dall. (W 34-24) | Jake Kumerow | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 |
| 2019 | Det. (W 23-22) | Allen Lazard | 5 | 4 | 65 | 35t | 1 |
| 2019 | Det. (W 23-22) | Geronimo Allison | 7 | 3 | 40 | 21 | 0 |
| 2019 | Det. (W 23-22) | M. Valdes-Scantling | 2 | 2 | 48 | 46 | 0 |
| 2019 | Det. (W 23-22) | Jake Kumerow | 3 | 2 | 17 | 10 | 0 |
| 2019 | Det. (W 23-22) | Darrius Shepherd | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | Oak. (W 42-24) | M. Valdes-Scantling | 3 | 2 | 133 | 74t | 1 |
| 2019 | Oak. (W 42-24) | Jake Kumerow | 2 | 2 | 54 | 37t | 1 |
| 2019 | Oak. (W 42-24) | Geronimo Allison | 5 | 4 | 33 | 15 | 0 |
| 2019 | Oak. (W 42-24) | Allen Lazard | 4 | 3 | 42 | 26 | 0 |
| 2019 | at K.C. (W 31-24) | Allen Lazard | 5 | 5 | 42 | 14 | 0 |
| 2019 | at K.C. (W 31-24) | Jake Kumerow | 4 | 2 | 48 | 34 | 0 |
| 2019 | at K.C. (W 31-24) | Geronimo Allison | 3 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| 2019 | at K.C. (W 31-24) | M. Valdes-Scantling | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 2020 | at N.O. (W 37-30) | Allen Lazard | 8 | 6 | 146 | 72 | 1 |
| 2020 | at N.O. (W 37-30) | M. Valdes-Scantling | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| 2020 | at N.O. (W 37-30) | Darrius Shepherd | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Atl. (W 30-16) | M. Valdes-Scantling | 8 | 4 | 45 | 17 | 0 |
| 2020 | Atl. (W 30-16) | Darrius Shepherd | 3 | 2 | 21 | 19 | 0 |
| 2020 | Atl. (W 30-16) | Malik Taylor | 1 | 1 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 2021 | at Ariz. (W 24-21) | Randall Cobb | 5 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 2 |
| 2021 | at Ariz. (W 24-21) | Juwann Winfree | 6 | 4 | 30 | 12 | 0 |
| 2021 | at Ariz. (W 24-21) | Equanimeous St. Brown | 3 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 0 |
| 2021 | at Ariz. (W 24-21) | Amari Rodgers | 3 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
—Ian Allan