Recently, Davante Adams appeared on the “I Am Athlete” podcast and was asked to list his top five wide receivers in the league. While he was only asked to name five players, Adams went above and beyond and gave seven.
Unsurprisingly, Adams ranked himself as the top receiver in the NFL saying, “I’ll be real, I can’t say that anyone is better than me at my position in the league”.
Up next, he named Justin Jefferson at 2A saying, “If I left myself out or I had to go 1B, I’d go Jets (Justin Jefferson) right now. He’s too consistent and he’s making really, really tough grabs. He’s got a different swag to him. He d***ed near changed the world with the Griddy. He’s not the founder, but he came through with the cele game”.
Tyreek Hill came in at the 2B spot on Adams’ list. This should come as no surprise as Hill thrived in his first year without Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball. Adams was quoted as saying, “Red, the way he’s doing it still. He went to a new place and he’s like me, he did exactly what he do. It’s hard to argue with consistency and it’s hard to argue with dominance. And that’s what he’s been doing. He can affect the game in so many different ways. He’s fast and he runs a lot better routes than people give him credit for. Got really good feet. He’s a playmaker”.
At the third spot, he gave the nod to Stefon Diggs. Diggs is another elite receiver that has excelled with two different quarterbacks throughout his career. He burst onto the scene as a member of the Minnesota Vikings catching passes from Kirk Cousins. However, with Josh Allen on the Buffalo Bills, he has reached a new level and is well deserving of his ranking on this list.
Surprisingly, Adams would give the nod to Calvin Ridley at the number four spot. He justified the pick by saying, “I’m going to make some people mad with this one. Say whatever you want about last year, but it didn’t have anything to do with football. It was silly. He’s back this year and I think he’s going to have a really, really good year. As a receiver, we don’t control everything. We control our tape. Watch the boy’s tape. He’s doing stuff consistently with the routes.
For the final spot on the list, he would once again name two players, Ceedee Lamb, and Mike Evans. For his rationale on these selections he said, “5A is Mike Evans, that shouldn’t make nobody mad. Then CeeDee Lamb. I like CeeDee Lamb a lot. When I’m picking it, I’m not picking it off of what people want to hear”.
While this is a very well-put-together list, the question is raised of if Adams is truly deserving of the top spot. As he brought up in the podcast, there are a couple of players on the list that can contend with him as a receiver and have accomplished the same thing as him on the field. However, it is very hard to argue with Adams being regarded as the top receiver in all of football. His route running is in a league of its own, and even with inconsistent quarterback play in his first season in a new offense with the Las Vegas Raiders, he still ranked 7th in the league in receiving yards.
Barring any trades coming during the season, this could be another tough year for Adams. While he will continue to shine on the stat sheet, he should not be expecting the quarterback play to improve at all. Currently, Jimmy Garoppolo is fighting back from a serious foot injury that could cause the team to cut him before he even takes a snap. If this ends up happening, Adams will be likely catching passes from Brian Hoyer to open up the season.
