GREEN BAY — To appreciate just how high of public praise Aaron Rodgers on Wednesday afternoon to second-year wide receiver Davante Adams, you have to rewind to roughly 14 months ago. That's when the Green Bay Packers quarterback issued a not-so-subtle training-camp edict — to the then-rookie second-round pick and other young players — that they'd better focus on the mental part of the game or he wanted nothing to do with them.
"We're not quite going to be on the same page every single time, but if you cannot line up right, if you can't get the checks, and if you can't get what you're supposed to do every time, then there's no way you can possibly be on the field when I'm out there," Rodgers said then. "If those guys can't cut it, then there's no way they can possibly be on the field. It doesn't matter how physically talented they are."
As the 2014 season wore on, Adams grew on Rodgers, who eventually saw what he wanted to see from the rookie — not only in Adams two big games (six catches for 121 yards against New England and seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown in the NFC Divisional Playoffs against Dallas), but also in how he handled his not-so-big games.
That maturity — combined with Adams' natural talent, physical dimensions, athleticism and commitment to learning the offense inside and out — has Rodgers convinced that Adams is headed for big things in 2015, even with Pro Bowl receivers Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb at his position. A little over a year after he'd challenged Adams — although not by name — to step up his preparation, Rodgers couldn't stop talking Wednesday about the approach Adams is taking to his job now.
"In my mind, he has humongous upside — and he's starting to reach that upside," Rodgers said after the team's open-to-the-public organized team activity practice. "I think the opportunities are going to come for him. He's got two great guys to play with. His attention to detail is very impressive and his approach.
"Obviously, the athleticism — as you see on Twitter with his 360, between-the-legs dunk — is incredible. He brings a different set of skills to the field that we haven't seen around here with his body type, his athleticism and his approach. If you look at the guys who've struck around here and gotten second and third contracts, it's guys who really understand how to make this work for them — the game within the game: The note-taking, the preparation, the study habits, the focus, the practice habits.
"Look at the two guys in this room (Nelson and Cobb) who had phenomenal seasons last year. They both have a great approach to their job and you're seeing Davante really do that. The biggest example to me of the kind of guy that he is, is last year when he went through stretches where he didn't catch the ball, has a huge game against New England, then goes through stretches again where he doesn't get a lot of balls thrown his way, then has a big game against Dallas. That's all about approach and focus. And you can't teach that."
Adams, who caught 38 passes for 446 yards and three TDs in regular-season play and eight passes for 124 yards and another TD in the playoffs, wasn't in the locker room during the media access period Wednesday. But last week, he spoke of what it meant to him to have gained Rodgers' confidence.
"It's big, because that's the type of thing that's going to keep me fine-tuning my own game because I see a guy 🇮🇳 a future yellow jacket [from the Pro Football Hall of Fame] who's got faith in the young guy," Adams said. "That means a lot to me. We've communicated a lot in the locker room and the film room, and on the field obviously. So when a guy like that come to me in clutch situations, it makes me want to push myself even more."
Jason Wilde wrote: