Davante Adams posted the lowest completion percentage of his 12-year NFL career in 2025, at 52.6%. What caused that?
One of the problems was that he and Matthew Stafford didn’t get on completely, but, most notably to me, it was just Adams who didn’t finish the catch. At 33 years old, was Father Time tapping him on the shoulder? According to Dwain McFarland’s research, it may be.
“In order to properly understand the importance of age in the WR performance equation, I decided to divide the production in each age group (20 to 40) by their primary production. Primary production is equal to the average of fantasy points per game for the player to get the best average of three years in his career, and the age of the player is summarized based on their age in Week 1 of each season.
After combining that data for every season in which a WR had at least 200 routes from 2011 to 2023, we get a clear picture of when WRs peak and when they start to decline. For convenience, buckets are created for age groups based on performance.
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However, looking at the drop in catch percentage, I wondered if that number could be explained by something else. Age doesn’t hinder a player’s ability to catch the ball, does it?
Was it a plan?
I found a clip of every single pass thrown to Adams and watched it a few times. Davante Adams ran a very different route tree with the Los Angeles Rams in 2025, excelling in straight routes, deep dropbacks, and red-zone slants, but he looked very uncomfortable in passing patterns when the ball was thrown. running between hash marks. He was fine, though, running around, finding a spot, and sitting there. I think I found out why.
During the second play of this clip of Adams in the Houston game, Stafford hits Adams with a cross pattern to the left hashmark. On his knees, Henry To’o To’o drops his shoulder and hits Adams in the head with a vicious shot. If it was a college game, I suspect To’o To’o would have been thrown to point. His nervousness in the middle of the field after this hit is understandable.
Understanding the physics of a collision like this takes years of study, but to put it simply in contact sports, the force in a direct collision is roughly equal to the sum of the two players’ speeds. If Adams was going 19 mph and To’o To’o at 17 mph, the force Adams would feel is like running against a brick wall at 36 mph. Getting pulled from the back or side creates a fraction of that force.
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Over the course of the season, as I watched, it was the same in almost every pass. Curl tracks, over the shoulder, end fade, and anything on the side, she looked confident. Across the middle, there is a chance to collide, and he often looked like he had T-arms. Rex. The ball would hit his fingers and fall to the ground incomplete.
Or was it years?
I went and watched clips of his great years with Aaron Rodgers. It was truly magical how Rodgers could float the ball through the window but into the keyhole, and Adams would wait until the last minute to get his hands on the ball and catch it. One can only hope that Adams and Stafford reach that comfort zone. With their first year together under their belts, I can see that happening.
It was also very apparent, watching Adams from four or five years ago and comparing him to today, that maybe he is a step slower, or the defensive backs are a little faster. In those Green Bay clips, he was always hitting guys with speed. Another sign that may indicate that you are aging is two muscle injuries. One with the Jets in 2024 and, of course, last season. Studies have found that the most consistent factors for hamstring strains are age and a history of previous injuries.
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So the age? Or is it a strategy? There’s no denying that he’s slow, but he still finds ways to get open and can catch the absurd. Maybe Sean McVay just needs to keep him out of those uncomfortable situations to get his production numbers up.
