We saw a couple of trends emerge this offseason when it comes to the wide receiver position.The top players are breaking records with the kind of contracts they are signing, and if you don’t want to pay your star wideout, then another team will trade for him and hand over the money he’s been searching for.
It happened twice, first with Davante Adams leaving the Green Bay Packers for the Las Vegas Raiders and signing a five-year, $141.25 million deal , and then with Tyreek Hill being dealt from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Miami Dolphins inking a four-year, $120 million extension .Both receivers are surely happy with how their wallets look, but is it possible leaving the only NFL homes they have ever known wasn’t the correct decision?
Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin doesn’t understand how Adams and Hill could leave quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes — even with the kind of money they got.
“You left Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes — I don’t know if I could’ve ever left Troy Aikman,” Irvin told the New York Post .”I don’t think I could’ve done that.”
Both receivers got bumps in pay and new homes in what are more desirable cities in Las Vegas and Miami, but Irvin still doesn’t believe that would be enough for him to leave a top quarterback.
“You can still go live there in your house in the offseason, but I’m not leaving those quarterbacks,” Irvin said.”Let’s see how this plays out.You’re making $30 million and you can have houses in two places.
I think the most important thing is taking care of what’s on the football field.
“They had some great quarterbacks.I’m interested in seeing how it works out with Tua (Tagovailoa) and (Derek) Carr, but it’s surely not Mahomes and Rodgers.If you make that move, do you shorten the time you’re making $30 million a year because all of a sudden, you’re not making the same impact? This is a meritocracy.If you’re not putting up the numbers to support that $30 million, they’ll come for you, just like Dallas did with Amari Cooper and his $20 million.
It would’ve been hard for me to make a business decision on leaving those quarterbacks.”
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While Derek Carr isn’t Aaron Rodgers, he’s still one of the better signal-callers in the NFL, and just signed a new three-year extension .
He also already has a rapport with Adams, as the receiver caught 131 passes for 1,719 yards and 24 touchdowns from Carr in just 13 games during their 2013 campaign together at Fresno State.As for Hill’s new situation with the Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa is still working to prove himself.He doesn’t possess the arm talent Mahomes does, but he does have a new offensive wunderkind in Mike McDaniel, who is known for getting the most out of his playmakers.
Adams and Hill are two of the best receivers in the NFL, and they would make impacts on any offense no matter who was quarterbacking.Still, we haven’t seen these two players operate much without their star quarterbacks..