Davante Adams spent 2015 living out a nightmare. His horror show came in the form of running in quick sand and dropping seemingly everything tossed his way.
The Green Bay Packers receiver awoke from the torment in 2016. With ankle troubles behind him, Adams is making the most of his opportunities in a resurgent Aaron Rodgers-led offense. Since Week 7, Adams leads the NFL with 43 receptions, is second with 558 receiving yards and tied for second most receiving touchdowns with five.
"I never lost faith in him at all because he gets open a lot," Rodgers said this week, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "He's obviously earned a lot of my trust this year and he's playing very confidently. We love the way that he's playing right now."
Rodgers' faith in Adams this season is apparent. The quarterback has no problem forcing a ball to his young receiver in tight windows. As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Adams entered last week leading the NFL with an 85.7 percent catch rate when targeted with less than one yard of separation. Then he went out and added two more beauties against the Eagles.
The most notable difference on film between 2015 Adams and 2016 Adams is his fluidity off the line of scrimmage. The third-year pro is winning routes in his first two and three steps, opening windows for Rodgers to thread the needle. It's not surprising Adams can cut better on two healthy ankles.
"I wasn't playing the way people were expecting and I was expecting," Adams said of last season. "I was just kind of thinking as much as possible (about) how can I get back to the regular Davante while not being the regular Davante given I was hurt."
(Thanks for the third-person, DA.)
At 6-foot-1, 215 pounds with good but not great speed, Adams' ability to win with technique sets him apart.
"He's so good at the line of scrimmage and he's got that quick-twitch ability," Rodgers said. "If you don't have two solid feet and ankles, knees in the ground, you're going to have a problem for a guy like Davante, not being able to do the quick-twitch stuff that he's so good at.
"You've seen on the touchdowns he's scored on slant routes. Being able to get that separation at the line of scrimmage. You've seen it on his releases, vertical releases that he caught the other night on the go-ball, that stuff he wasn't able to do last year because of his injury -- injuries."
With Adams' improved consistency, draping coverage on a surging Jordy Nelson will become more difficult for defenses. If Green Bay is to run the table back to the top of the NFC North, the offense will need to be the most dynamic in the NFL. Adams' play gives Rodgers a chance to make that happen.