Green Bay Packers: Davante Adams set for breakout game

By Keegan Matheson | Sep 26, 2015

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams has fallen short of the preseason hype as Aaron Rodgers‘ number two receiver. The emergence of James Jones has certainly cut into Adams’ productivity, as one of Jones’ three touchdowns surely would have went in the direction of Adams three weeks ago. His upside remains, though, and the second-year pro sets up well for a breakout game on Monday Night Football as the Green Bay Packers host the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Step one to putting up numbers against the Chiefs right now is avoiding rookie cornerback Marcus Peters, whose off-field red flags caused the former Washington product to slide in the draft despite his mammoth potential. Instead, it looks as though Adams will draw some frequent looks from Jamell Fleming, a 2012 third-rounder who joined the Chiefs from Baltimore’s practice squad last season.

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This matchup worked wonders for the Denver Broncos in week two on Thursday Night Football, where Emmanuel Sanders caught eight of 14 targets for 87 yards and two touchdowns, bailing out Peyton Manning along the way.

Monday’s game could follow a similar narrative, just with a little more zip on the ball. Led by Justin Houston, the Kansas City pass rush will test the Green Bay tackles, who bent and just-almost-broke in week two against the Seahawks. The footwork of Rodgers made some negative plays look clean, but the Packers offense will be looking to act fast from the pocket. If Adams can play that Sanders role, the ball should come his direction.

This strategy could also be pushed by a limited running game as Eddie Lacy nurses an ankle injury that should leave him limited if he does suit up on Monday. Adams is dealing with an ankle injury of his own on the left side, but tells ESPN’s Rob Demovsky that it’s not a great cause for worry.

“The cutting isn’t really the problem,” Adams said. “It’s just the pressure when I lean on it a certain way or things like that, but I was able to cut on it pretty good today. I can run pretty much full speed, it’s just a matter of the reactionary type things just making sure that everything feels right when I get hands on me and things like that.”

Opposing defenses aren’t stupid, either. Kansas City will see that James Jones has become the number one red zone target for Rodgers in the past two weeks, and while they’re not about to give him the Rob Gronkowski treatment, they’ll definitely react to it. Nothing has changed with Davante Adams since the week following Jordy Nelson‘s injury, and on Monday night, he should make good on the buzz with a primetime performance.

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