As the New York Jets put the finishing touches on another frustrating loss, Davante Adams boarded a Redeye flight from Las Vegas to New Jersey before moving from his old team to his new one. No rest for the weary – Adams met with interim coach Jeff Ulbrich on Tuesday morning, got a physical and made time for a cameo on The Pat McAfee Show with Aaron Rodgers. Everyone is happy.

But happiness can be fleeting.

Acquiring Adams was a deal that was always going to happen. Adams and Rodgers have publicly and privately flirted with the idea of ​​a reunion for nearly a year. The Raiders entered the season without a top quarterback on the roster. If Adams wasn't available at the deadline last year when the Jets called (he wasn't), or before this season when the Jets called again (he still wasn't), he would break free at some point. If anyone had suggested this summer that the Jets would acquire Adams in mid-October, it would have been built on the idea that the star receiver was the missing piece the team needed to reach a Super Bowl. That's not quite what this is.

Woody Johnson on all things Jets. pic.twitter.com/ycLMDKxNhI

– Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) October 15, 2024

News of the Adams trade came at 10:05 a.m. Tuesday. A week earlier, at 10:08 a.m., it was announced that the Jets had fired head coach Robert Saleh. On Monday night, the Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills 23-20, their third straight loss – and one filled with mistakes this team made with Saleh at the helm. The change of coach didn't matter. They are 2-4, the first time Rodgers has had a losing record in six games as a starter. This is new territory. So the Jets called in backup, his favorite wide receiver. Together, they were one of the most productive quarterback-wide receiver pairings in NFL history.

But Adams isn't the missing piece to a Super Bowl run. The Jets hope he's the missing piece that gets them out of the hole they've dug themselves into.

The confusion surrounding Haason Reddick's situation — the low-key defensive end was released by his agent last week, hired a new one on Monday and gave him permission to seek a trade on Tuesday — only added to the chaos of last week. Or from last year. Or the last decade. The Jets cause chaos.

To his credit (or to his detriment?), Woody Johnson is pulling out all the stops to get the Jets back on track, at a time when they are still a few losses from a season that has completely gone off track are removed.

But Johnson saw an opportunity to save the season and he took it. “Salvable?” he told reporters at the owners’ meetings in Atlanta this fall. “We're going to kick…you can fill in the word.” Johnson agreed with general manager Joe Douglas' pursuit of Adams, even if the Jets must pay the remainder of the receiver's salary this season, a hefty $11.59 million. (The Jets reportedly restructured Adams' contract to lower the cap in 2024, but he will likely still get that money paid out via a signing bonus.)

“The status quo,” Johnson said, “is murderous.”

Go deeper

Jets trade for Davante Adams and reunite star WR with Aaron Rodgers

The Jets traded a conditional third-round pick to the Raiders, which will only become a second if Adams – who has already missed three games with a hamstring injury – is an All-Pro or if he is active for an AFC Championship Game or the Super Bowl.

Adams is undoubtedly a stud. Some in the Jets building — even those not named Aaron Rodgers or Nathaniel Hackett — believe Adams is the best wide receiver in the NFL, even at 31 years old. They already have Garrett Wilson, a rising star, and Allen Lazard, Adams' old Packers teammate who has scored five touchdowns in six games.

At the end of Monday night's loss, Rodgers threw an interception on a pass intended for wide receiver Mike Williams, a player the Jets gave a one-year deal worth “up to” $15 million with various incentives in the Hoping he would provide a spark as the No. 2 wide receiver after so many receivers failed to support Wilson in 2022 and 2023. That didn't quite work. Williams, who suffered a torn ACL in 2023, has 10 catches for 145 yards in six games. And after the Bills loss, Rodgers pointed the finger at Williams, pointing out that the receiver had gone the wrong way during the interception.

“If I made mistakes, I have to play better and make the shot,” Rodgers said during his Tuesday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “There were a lot of mistakes throughout the night, but if you just look at this game, those were the questions. “What happened on this play?” Well, there were two verticals on the right side. Mike had to get to the red line, which would have been a big win, so I didn't challenge Mike on anything other than his responsibility in the details of that play. I have great love and respect for Mike; He did some nice things for us, but he wasn't in the right place on this play. You can make more of it if you want, but we should all hold ourselves to a standard. I hold myself to a standard of greatness, and at certain times that hasn’t been the case.”

Many assume Williams will be on his way out now that Adams has arrived — and it's hard not to wonder if Rodgers and Williams' difficulties connecting ultimately led to this deal for Adams have led. The idea is that Rodgers and Adams won't have the same problems building chemistry.

That Adams — who has had five 1,000-yard seasons in six seasons and 997 yards in the other — can help fix all of the Jets' problems is overblown. He can't fix left tackle Tyron Smith (five sacks allowed this season) or the leaky run defense. But maybe he can help in the red zone, and he can help create space for Wilson, who struggled to play against No. 1 cornerbacks earlier in the season.

Ulbrich compared the potential of the Wilson-Adams pairing to what he saw at linebacker for the 49ers when San Francisco brought in a young Terrell Owens to compliment an older Jerry Rice – and to learn from him.

“I think Davante will offer the same thing to Garrett and all of our receivers,” Ulbrich said. “He's been doing this at an elite level for a long time, and on top of that you'll see exactly the reflection of a relationship with Aaron, the synergy that they've had for so long. So it’s an exciting time to be a Jet.”

That excitement can quickly fade if the Jets lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night. If 2-4 is hard to climb, maybe going from 2-5 to get back into the playoffs feels like Mount Everest. Since the NFL added an additional wild card spot in 2020, no team has made the playoffs with fewer than nine wins; The Jets need to win at least 7 of their last 11 games to get to 9-8. The ambitions were much higher at the start of the season.

Go deeper

Robert Saleh fired: Why Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets, made the move now

But the Jets have a 40-year-old quarterback on his last legs and an impatient owner. They also have a fan base that is tired of suffering narrow losses year after year. Now is the time to win, even as expectations have been reset after a disappointing three-game losing streak that resulted in multiple losses, from Saleh (fired) to Hackett (demoted).

The Adams trade was a win-now move for a team still figuring out how to win. Maybe the trade will give the Jets the boost they're looking for. Or maybe it's a blip on the radar, a fleeting moment

“Thinking is overrated,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. “You have to look forward. We have to look forward to the games we will play every week and try to win them all. And these are basic things, right? … A lot of times you just have to trust your instincts and what's the best way to build a team, build a winning team and most importantly build a culture of winning? I think based on what I saw (Monday night), I think we’re going in a new and exciting direction.”

(Top photo: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)