Fantasy Football Player Profile: Davante Adams

Fantasy Football Player Profile: Davante Adams

Worst Case Scenario 

Adams was far and away the focus of the passing game in 2018 as no other player saw more than Jimmy Graham’s 89 targets. Geronimo Allison showed a little bit a flash in his five games, averaging six targets a game. If he stays healthy, that could be targets taken away. Marquez Valdes-Scantling could take a step forward and the ball could get more spread around from that standpoint as well. Adams was the focus almost by default and it’s not inconceivable that he sees fewer targets. That’s to say nothing of aging veteran tight end Jimmy Graham, who could score more than his paltry two touchdowns form last year.

In addition, for a myriad of reasons, the Packers finished dead last in the league in rushing attempts. I would of course never suggest they will take the ball away from Rodgers, but even an increase of 50 rushing attempts could swing the pendulum.

This is certainly not meant to stir up any type of drama, but there are some interesting quotes from LaFleur about how the offensive system he preaches has been run from NFL.com - 

"“Aaron and I have had some good talks, and we’re going to have to talk a lot more — and one thing we have to work through is the audible thing,” LaFleur explained. “We’re running a system I first picked up while working with Kyle (Shanahan) in Houston a decade ago, and we’ve never really had a quarterback who’s had complete freedom to change plays at the line, because that’s not really the way the offense is set up. But, I mean, this is Aaron Rodgers. He’s had a lot of freedom to make those calls, and deservedly so. Now, how do we reconcile that, and get to a place where we put him in the best position to succeed?”"

This is something that likely gets hammered out early, but it would certainly be something to monitor if it lingered into camp.

These are very small concerns but perhaps my biggest fear is within the red zone. 12 of the 13 touchdowns came from that part of the field, and the only other player who saw double digits was Eric Ebron. Touchdowns are quite fickle, even for an Aaron Rodgers offense. If he sees 15-20 fewer targets, that could translate to more towards 1,000 yards and around 8 touchdowns.

Takeaway 

Even if things go “wrong” for Adams, I’m very hard-pressed to see him facing out of the top 8-12 receivers in the game. The quarterback is too good, the talent level is too high and we may yet see a higher ceiling. I might personally take Odell Beckham ahead of him, but Adams is worth his draft capital and should have a big year.

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