Is Davante “No Drops” Adams coming for Larry Fitzgerald’s record?

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams boasts an impressive streak without drops in 2022, which brings the legend of Larry Fitzgerald to mind. 

In their first win of the season, Raiders fans were treated to vintage Davante Adams. Nine receptions on 13 targets for 101 yards helped the Raiders drive down the field in critical moments, but there’s another Adams stat from Week 4 that also deserves commendation.

Adams built a reputation as one of the league’s leading receivers back in Green Bay, but right now, he’s leading the NFL with the longest streak without a drop.

The streak brings to mind the accomplishment of another lauded wide receiver: Arizona Cardinals legend Larry Fitzgerald.

How does Davante Adams compare to Larry Fitzgerald with career drops?

Building the legend of Larry Fitzgerald is the fact that he has more career tackles than career drops.

Over a 17-year NFL career played exclusively with the Arizona Cardinals, Fitzgerald recorded 41 tackles to 29 drops.

That’s 29 drops out of 2,335 targets. This alone puts Fitzgerald in first-ballot Hall of Famer territory, but Fitzgerald did one better as an exclusive member of the NFL 100 All-Time team. This distinction honors him as one of the best receivers in the NFL century-long history — and he was one of only ten receivers in history to earn the honor. At the time, he was the only active NFL wide receiver on the list.

Throughout nine NFL seasons, Davante Adams has recorded 1,059 targets. According to Pro Football Reference, Adams has recorded 17 drops since 2018. That’s a stark contrast to his 2015 season, in which he led the NFL in drops with 10 in the regular season and postseason.

But that already puts Adams with at least 27 career drops compared to Fitzgerald’s 29 drops — and that’s through nine seasons compared to 17 seasons. Plus, Fitzgerald fielded more than double the targets.

It also should be noted that Adams spent eight seasons with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, and only has one drop with Derek Carr in Las Vegas. That is drastically different from the quarterback carousel Fitzgerald was subjected to in Glendale, where Fitzgerald caught passes from 21 different quarterbacks. Although one of them happened to be Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, overall, Fitzgerald was subjected to unending obstacles in regards to the majority of his passers.

As far as how Adams compares, he’s not exactly like Larry — no one ever will be — but Davante is carving out a nice no-drop reputation of his own. His ability to land 43 targets without a drop, all with a new quarterback and a new offense, only adds to the legend Adams has built over the course of his career.