Mike Florio and Chris Simms unpack Davante Adams’ comments about not needing Aaron Rodgers and explore how the WR has proven himself since landing in Las Vegas.

Video Transcript

- Davante Adams, that's our top item for today. We'll get to Joe Burrow later. Davante Adams had an interview with "The Ringer," and he said some interesting stuff.

- Yeah, he did.

- And one thing that he said was very interesting. It was about Aaron Rodgers, and he said that he proved last year that he does not need Aaron Rodgers to succeed, and we never thought about that aspect of it. These two guys are tied together, and they both have a lot of success together. But the receiver--

- Yeah.

- --thinks the quarterback's getting too much of the credit. It's not just the quarterback. It's me too. So I go somewhere else with a lesser quarterback, even though remember last year he called Derek Carr a Hall of Famer.

- A Hall of Famer. [LAUGHTER] Yeah, seriously.

- Yeah. Yeah. Now we know what he thinks about Derek Carr. He's going to find a lesser quarterback so he can prove to the world it's not the guy throwing the ball. It reminds me of a few years ago when the Falcons had their issue with Julio Jones. They give Matt Ryan $30 million a year. Julio is at $15 million a year. Something's wrong with this picture. The quarterback isn't twice as good as me.

- Right.

- I'm part of the reason why you're giving the quarterback $30 million a year, and I think that mindset influenced Davante Adams' desire to get out of Green Bay. And he never said it that way at the time, and Rodgers wasn't going to come out and say it. And I think maybe one of the reasons Rodgers was OK with it is deep down he realized what Davante was trying to do. He's trying to go prove that he can still get it done without the quarterback. He thinks he can go get it done with a lesser guy, and he proved that he could.

- Definitely. I mean, listen, he's a special talent. There's no question about that. He's a top tier route-runner. To me, this year showed a more ability to be explosive playmaker than I had seen in Green Bay, which was a pleasant surprise. But Mike, I mean, you know, we know, we're competitors in all types of things in that way. Yeah, there was probably people like me and others out there given too much credit to Aaron Rodgers. It's Aaron Rodgers. It's Aaron Rodgers. And you get sick of hearing that when you're Davante Adams, you know? And maybe not thinking you're quite getting the respect you deserve as far as the hierarchy of top receivers in football.

So he got to go somewhere and show, hey, it's not just the quarterback. It's the player. And, you know, hey, we know good receivers need a good quarterback for sure, but he got into his place to, the system is great. The offensive coordinator knows how to use him the right way, and that allowed him to show all his different abilities and skill sets that he can offer and, man, he flourished. But as a competitor, I certainly can see him having that little chip on his shoulder and wanting to show the world or the doubters that it's not just Aaron Rodgers making it happen. That he was a top tier physical specimen himself.

- And for him, the proof of that was being First Team All-Pro, and the article paints the picture of how obsessed he was with finding out did I make First Team All-Pro. To him, that was the ultimate vindication and validation of his skills away from Aaron Rodgers. "It proved that I am me," he said. "A quarterback doesn't make me, I make me, and I can do it consistently at this level. That's why last season meant a lot. Even if I went and played like dog shit next year, they can't say it because now I've already proved it throughout the course of the season, played every game, and put together a resume that says I do not need."

You can erase all the numbers. You can just write in he didn't need Aaron Rodgers. Now, that doesn't change the fact that he still wanted him. He also said that he tried to recruit Aaron Rodgers to the Raiders. "Abscence makes the heart grow fonder. Having that distance and time away kind of made me miss him," and he proved he can do it without him. See, they get together again and it's not going to be Aaron Rodgers featuring Davante Adams.

- Right.

- It's going to be Rodgers and Adams, equal billing because Adams proved that he deserves it.

- Yeah. Well, yes, equal billing, right? He's proved it. He's had that one year. Hey, wait, it's not just you, but also smart enough to realize, hey, wait, if Aaron Rodgers gets here we're a better football team, and I am a better football player, right? Period. So he's smart enough to see that. He kind of checked the box, or answered that question, crossed that off, whatever, to say, wait, I don't need a Hall of Fame quarterback to be really good.

And, listen, honestly, it's great that he learned that too, but you look at the current landscape and the way the NFL is, it's a little bit of probably an overblown subject anyways. It really is. I mean, you could make a case, hey, we know a receiver needs a good quarterback, but for stats-wise and things like that, man, I don't know, the offensive coordinator might be every bit as important as that.

We could sit here and talk about a lot of receivers who had 1,000 yards, right? And I'd go, well, their quarterback was nothing special, you know? I mean, Terry McLaurin, Garrett Wilson was in the quarterback conundrum of the Jets last year. He had 1,000 yards.

I mean, there's plenty of guys could look at that way and go, oh, well, hey, the offense knows how to use him, he's a good player, and they feed him the ball. Now, that's what Davante Adams got, but I think now he got that part of his appetite quenched or whatever, or whatever I'm trying to say, and now he's at a spot where he's going, OK, now I want more. I want to win. We need to get in the playoffs. I want to win a Super Bowl and be the guy that way, and his attention has turned to that.

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