After an abysmal 2024 campaign that saw them finish 5-12, the New Orleans Saints need immediate upgrades in their offense, especially in the receiver room where none of their players crossed 600 yards.
One of the Saints’ former players now believes that the team could make a move for Davante Adams, who has reportedly been released by the New York Jets.
Saints To Pursue Davante Adams?
The Jets tried to make a splash and change things up in the regular season when they traded for Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders, but the deal did not end well.
It’s not as though Adams had horrible stats after he was traded, but it did not translate to wins, and the Jets’ season became an unmitigated disaster.
So, it is no surprise to see Adams get released, but it is still a big-name wide receiver now on the market. Adams was due a $38 million cap hit for the 2025 season, and there was essentially no chance he was being brought back on that number.
With Adams now as the consensus top receiver in free agency after Tee Higgins was tagged by the Cincinnati Bengals, former Saints linebacker and Super Bowl champion Scott Shanle revealed that New Orleans will be highly interested in the six-time Pro Bowler.
Saints will have a lot of interest. His college wide receiver coach and friend Keith Williams is the saints WR coach. https://t.co/cpiIxhxDdk
— Scott Shanle⁵⁸ (@scottshanle) March 4, 2025
In addition to reuniting with Williams, Adams shares a great bond with Carr. They played college football together at Fresno State, and the Saints quarterback was one of the reasons Adams signed with the Raiders in 2022.
However, the Saints are in a precarious financial position, and they are estimated to be $52 million over the salary cap, severely limiting their ability to make any big splashes in the market.
The NFL announced an increased salary cap for the 2025 season, providing a sliver of relief. The cap is projected to fall between $277.5 million and $281.5 million, which is higher than initially anticipated. This increase could potentially reduce the Saints’ overage to around $47 million, offering a bit more flexibility in their roster management.
Adams is going to cost the Saints a lot, and their current cap space makes it hard to visualize the receiver landing in New Orleans. They can restructure Carr’s contract to free some cap space, and although the quarterback has made it clear that he won’t take a pay cut, a potential reunion with Adams might change his mind.
It remains to be seen how this paves out, but Adams could make an instant difference in the Saints’ offense, which ranked 22nd on PFSN’s Offense+ metric last season.
He missed a couple of games due to a hamstring injury (or he was being held out by the Raiders to be traded), but he finished the year with 85 receptions for 1,063 yards and 8 touchdowns, combining his stats from both the Raiders and Jets.
Those stats are a far cry from the 1,300+ yard seasons he was putting up with Aaron Rodgers when they were both in their primes with the Packers, but that is still a solid receiver.