Aaron Rodgers says he feels like the Packers never filled the void left by Davante Adams

A lot of things changed for Green Bay this season. After going 26-7 in 2020 and 2023 with a pair of MVP wins for Aaron Rodgers, the Packers finished 8-9 in 2022 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.

A big part of that was obviously the massive offseason trade of All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams from Green Bay to Las Vegas and Rodgers shared that sentiment after the Packer’s final loss this season to the Detroit Lions. He said Adams is ‘superhuman’ and anything the franchise did to try to the fill the void of a receiver like him just did not work. He also thinks everyone took for granted what he and Adams were able to do in their eight seasons together.

“I feel like, obviously, losing Davante was a big deal,” said Rodgers. “We didn’t fill that void. Nobody can. He’s superhuman, he’s phenomenal. But there was hope in certain things that was gonna fill that void. Ultimately, that just didn’t happen.

“The things we were able to do I think may have been taken for granted at times,” Rodgers said. “We were able to create so many different things in the moment over the years. Especially the last couple years.”

Adams caught 769 passes for 9,637 yards and 87 touchdowns in his 133 career games with the Packers. How he developed over his time catching passes from Rodgers created one of the NFL’s most lethal duos. However, the franchise elected to move him for a pair of picks in last season’s NFL Draft.

After Adams caught 238 passes over the two previous seasons for just under 3,000 yards and 29 touchdowns, no one in Green Bay’s receiving corps even came close to that production this season. Allen Lazard, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Randall Cobb did their best. In the end, though, Rodgers had one of his worst passing seasons in recent memory without Adams.

With all this said, Rodgers does believe the team has young pieces that could become reliable offensive weapons. They may not fully replace some of the Packer’s former stars but, with the right players breaking out, he thinks they can have a quality offense again over the next few years.

Not much really changed other than (Adams’) absence from the lineup. Obviously, Marques (Valdez Scantling) not being here and some other pieces on the line,” said Rodgers. “But I think there’s a lot of good, young talent on the team. If certain guys make the jumps from years one to two, this offense could look a little bit different.”

The next question is whether or not Rodgers will still be around to see the fruits of that offensive development? Still, as good as it could be down the line, many would be hard-pressed to imagine it getting much better than the connection Rodgers and Adams had which, when looking back, may have cost Green Bay this season.