FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Davante Adams will be Aaron Rodgers' house guest for a while, at least until the New York Jets' newly acquired wide receiver gets situated.
So, they drove together to the team facility Wednesday morning. And then sat next to each other during the team meeting, just like old times.
“I turned to him and just said, ‘Man, how crazy is this?’” Rodgers said with a big grin. "It's something that when we get together in the offseasons, we joke about, but it never seemed like a possibility or going to happen.
“So it’s good to be with him.”
The two longtime Green Bay Packers teammates will also be back together on the football field in Pittsburgh on Sunday night, when Adams expects to make his Jets debut and catch passes again from his pal.
“Definitely, I'll be able to roll,” Adams said.
The star wide receiver, acquired from Las Vegas on Tuesday, was limited during the team's walkthrough session. Adams missed the Raiders' past three games with a hamstring injury that coincided with his request to be traded.
After a whirlwind 48 hours and months of speculation, he was back with Rodgers and in his familiar No. 17 jersey — this time in green and white.
“It's been a roller coaster, for sure,” Adams said. "It's a weird thing to say that I'm happy, but obviously, it was time for a change. And this whole thing kind of transpired a little weird, but at the end of the day, we're in a better place.
“I think the Raiders are in a better place, as well. And everyone can kind of move on. But it's definitely been a roller coaster — a little bit up and down and left and right here and there. But we ultimately got it done."
The 31-year-old Adams caught 103 passes last season for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns for the Raiders, his second season in Las Vegas after eight with Rodgers in Green Bay.
He had 18 receptions for 209 yards and a touchdown in three games with Las Vegas this season before the hamstring injury — and subsequent trade request. Adams acknowledged he was frustrated and needed a change.
When asked about what he meant by both sides being better off, Adams said “let me choose my words carefully here” and talked about a difference in opinion of how he was being used, some of the offensive plans and how defenses were defending him.
“Just because they want to line up with the safety and try to play cover-2, we don’t just shut it down and move on,” Adams said. "Sometimes you've got to find a way to still make the play work because if you’re just looking for single coverage in order for me to make a play, I won’t be able to make many plays over the course of a year, just based on how I’m being played by a lot of these defenses.
“I think some of it is: Get me to a place where I’ve got a lot of familiarity with this offense and the quarterback. (Rodgers) understands how I see the game and how I see the ball thrown and all those things and sometimes he can make it easier.”
Adams and Rodgers will immediately renew their on-field connection, which was one of the greatest quarterback-wide receivers in recent NFL history. Adams caught 615 passes from Rodgers for 7,517 yards and 68 touchdowns during eight seasons together in Green Bay. That’s the most in all three categories between any combination of active players.
He'll join a suddenly crowded Jets wide receivers group that includes Garrett Wilson, who leads New York with 41 receptions, Allen Lazard, Mike Williams, Xavier Gipson, Irvin Charles and rookie Malachi Corley. There are some questions as to how new offensive play caller Todd Downing will be able to find roles for everyone while also integrating Adams into the system.
“It's a really cool problem to have,” interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “It's going to give us an opportunity to have more flexibility where we move these guys around."
Williams, a free agent signing last offseason, has been slow to develop a rapport with Rodgers. He was the intended receiver when Rodgers threw interceptions on the Jets' last offensive series in losses to Buffalo and Minnesota. Rodgers said Williams was in the wrong spot on the throw that was picked off by Taron Johnson on Monday night.
Adams' arrival, in particular, clouds Williams' role in the offense. Williams was not at the team's walkthrough Wednesday for what the team listed on the injury report as “personal” reasons.
Meanwhile, ESPN reported Adams restructured his contract to lower his salary cap this season and two voidable years were added, so the sides can negotiate moving forward. His salary cap hit would be $44.1 million in each of the next two seasons.
Adams made it clear he's looking at the Jets as a long-term destination.
“I mean, I hope so,” he said. “That's the plan. I mean, I want to be here. I never go somewhere in hopes of having to find a new home.”
Rodgers sat out the walkthrough while resting his banged-up left ankle. The 40-year-old quarterback was limited during the team's first two practices last week before fully participating last Saturday. Ulbrich said Rodgers should practice Thursday and be fine to play Sunday.
Cornerbacks D.J. Reed (groin) and Michael Carter II (back) also didn't practice and could miss the game.
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New York Jets wide receiver Davante Adams speaks to reporters at the team's facility in Florham Park, N.J., on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Dennis Waszak Jr.)
New York Jets wide receiver Davante Adams speaks to reporters at the team's facility in Florham Park, N.J., on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Dennis Waszak Jr.)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
