Davante Adams refuses to admit he made a mistake leaving the Raiders

Davante Adams wants to win. The three-time first-team All-Pro wide receiver is now on his third team in hopes of chasing down the elusive Lombardi Trophy.

After establishing himself as one of the top wide receivers in the league during his eight years with the Green Bay Packers, Adams requested to be traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. He hoped to help turn around a struggling franchise alongside his longtime friend and college teammate, quarterback Derek Carr. Instead, Adams found that the grass outside of Green Bay isn't greener.

Although he had stellar statistical campaigns in his two years, the Raiders drastically deteriorated. Las Vegas finished with a 6-11 record in his first season and then decided to move on from Carr.

In 2023, the star wideout was catching passes from quarterbacks Jimmy Garoppolo, Brian Hoyer, and Aidan O'Connell. In 2024, the Raiders took another step in the wrong direction. When it became clear that they were headed toward another losing season, Adams forced a trade to the New York Jets and reunited with the quarterback that got him closest to a championship: Aaron Rodgers.

New York had fallen to a 2-4 record and fired head coach Robert Saleh, but they hoped that Adams could kick-start the struggling offense. Instead, the Jets have won just one of five games since Adams joined the team.

Davante Adams claims he doesn't regret joining the Jets

During an appearance on the "Up & Adams Show" on Wednesday, Adams claimed he doesn't regret his decision to join the Jets.

"No, I don't live my life like that," Adams told host Kay Adams. "You'll drive yourself crazy. Hindsight's always 20-20. So you can sit here and look at it right now and say, 'Oh, I could've maybe stayed there, would've been more comfortable, wouldn't have had to move and all that stuff.' But for me, it's about going with my gut in my life, and that's how I make my decisions. I live with them. We'll roll the dice and see what happens. It's not really a gamble even in this situation. It's more of making ... it's almost like an inference."

In five games with the Jets, Adams has posted 26 receptions for 278 yards and just one touchdown. That output equates to less receptions per game and yards per game than he accumulated in three games with the Raiders this season.

"We're talking about playing with Aaron Rodgers here, too," Adams said. "This isn't like taking some crazy gamble going somewhere with some rookie that's unproven. Neither of us have played as good as we're capable of playing, but when you're rolling the dice, you'd hope that it's favoring you more. You got trick dice. It still might not work, but we're trying and doing everything we can and still going."

The Jets fired general manager Joe Douglas after the Jets suffered a 28-27 loss against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 11. Since the firing, reports have suggested that team owner Woody Johnson stripped Douglas of his power over a year ago. Johnson even suggested benching Rodgers before he ultimately decided to fire Saleh a week later.

"It's surprising, but it's not, just because you know the way this game goes," Adams said about the firing. "When games aren't being won and things don't look the way that they were intended to look, something's gotta change."

Adams is a six-time Pro Bowler and a three-time first-team All-Pro with 11,268 yards and 97 touchdowns in his career so far. While the individual accolades have continued to come, the team success has not. Despite his best efforts, Adams has not been able to punch his ticket to a Super Bowl appearance. The last time he came close was after the 2020 season when the Packers clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC but ultimately fell short in the NFC Championship Game against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Entering his 11th year in the league, the 31-year-old wide receiver is facing football mortality. Meanwhile, the Jets are barreling toward their 14th consecutive season without a playoff appearance, the longest active streak among all four major North American professional sports leagues.