Davante Adams carrying heavy load for Packers passing game
Through three games, no player in the NFL has more targets or catches than Green Bay Packers receiver Davante Adams.
Despite a somewhat quiet Week 1 performance, Adams still has 25 catches on 34 targets entering Week 4. He is on pace for 141 catches and 192 targets over 17 games.
Adams is carrying a heavy load. His targets account for almost 39 percent of Aaron Rodgers’ attempts, and his 25 catches are over 40 percent of Rodgers’ completions. Adams’ 309 receiving yards are almost 48 percent of Rodgers’ passing yards.
On Sunday night in San Francisco, Adams handled 18 targets, tied for the second-most in his career, and caught 12 passes. Only one other player – Marquez Valdes-Scantling – saw more than three targets despite Rodgers throwing 33 passes.
Overall, Valdes-Scantling is second on the team with 16 targets. Running back Aaron Jones has 10, tight end Robert Tonyan has only eight, and receivers Allen Lazard (five) and Randall Cobb (five) have 10 combined.
Adams is arguably the best receiver in football, and Rodgers trusts him to make a play against almost any coverage. The Packers are seeing a lot of two-deep shells to start 2021, and getting the ball to Adams on short, quick passes have helped tighten the coverages and create more opportunities down the field.
Matt LaFleur has also used Adams more in the slot. In fact, he’s running roughly 40 percent of his routes from the inside. The alignments are creating free releases and easy throws.
Rodgers isn’t necessarily forcing the ball to Adams. Of his 34 targets, only five were considered “contested” catch opportunities for Adams, per Pro Football Focus.
It will be interesting to see how teams adjust to limit Adams’ opportunities, and how the Packers’ passing distribution evens out – or doesn’t – as the season progresses. If Adams keeps up this kind of workload, he could shatter team records and threaten NFL records.
The Packers are diverse on offense, even in the passing game, but it’s clear the goal early this season is to get the ball in Adams’ hands via any way possible.
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