By Aidan Mastandrea and Joseph Caruso
Sports Editor and Staff Writer
The NFL season is flying by as week seven is now approaching, signally that a third of the season is over. Only a few teams are content with where they stand, while many front offices are desperately looking to improve.
Tuesday, Oct. 15 was one of the most active days when it comes to NFL moves with the Jets acquiring Davante Adams from the Raiders and the Buffalo Bills trading for Amari Cooper. Both of these AFC east teams feel that this move may take them over the top and into playoff contention and further, but it's possible these aging receivers will not change much.
New York Jets
With all of the preseason hype for the second year in a row, Jets fans continue to be let down. The season is still young, but if things don't turn around soon they are staring at a full rebuild for next year. The owner, Woody Johnson, is known to make rash decisions, as seen in the almost random firing of head coach Robert Salah a week ago.
A 3-point loss on Monday, Oct. 14 brought the Jets record to 2-4 through six weeks, with their only wins being against the lowly Titans and Patriots. Well here comes the savior… Davante Adams! Well, at least that's how some Jets fans and the organization sees it.
Adams is a soon-to-be 32-year-old receiver who is just out of his prime. He still has a lot of the tank and could definitely help many super bowl caliber teams in their quest for a ring.
Unfortunately, the Jets just are not close to that level. Their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, is a sliver of what he used to be, claiming to want to bring a ring to New York, but is doing the opposite of what is needed.
With his finger on every move the Jets have made, Rodgers now has his ex-running mate Adams and we will see if they are able to turn the season around quick enough to make the playoffs and beyond.
If this trade proves to be unsuccessful, The Jets organization will have to face the hard reality that acquiring Rodgers and allowing him to run the franchise behind the scenes was a mistake. There are still 10 games left to see if the Rodgers-to-Adams connection can spark a resurgence.
Buffalo Bills
As for the Buffalo Bills, they made their own move to acquire a different disgruntled pass-catcher in Amari Cooper. Cooper, now 30 years old, is being traded for the third time in his career as he goes from the woeful Cleveland Browns to the Bills for the cost of a future third-round draft pick.
Cooper has been miserable this season, setting career lows in yards per target, catch percentage and yards per game. However, much of this can be blamed on Cleveland's quarterback Deshaun Watson, who has seemingly forgotten how to play football since his Houston days.
Cooper, a rather quiet player, was often visibly frustrated and outspoken about his and the team's struggles, leading to him being dealt. He’ll be out of excuses now, as he heads to Buffalo to play with Josh Allen, one of the top quarterbacks in all of football.
Allen and the Bills had a disgruntled wideout of their own last season in Stefon Diggs. With Diggs moving on to the Texans in the summer, Allen was left without a go-to guy for the first time in his career. Between first-round draft pick Keon Coleman, and other returning pass-catchers Dalton Kincaid and Khalil Shakir, Allen has spread the ball through the first six weeks of the season.
To this point in the season, Allen is averaging under 200 passing yards per game and is on pace for his lowest passing yards total this decade, in part because of the lack of talent the Bills have dealt with at wide receiver. With that being said, Josh Allen and his new-found love of not turning the ball over has provided stability in the Buffalo offense, leading them to a 4-2 record as they sit atop the AFC East.
The duo of Allen and Cooper should provide excitement, as Cooper has never had a quarterback of Josh Allens’ caliber throwing him the ball. Cooper has struggled with drops this year, but with a career-high 1,250 receiving yards in 2023, there is no reason to believe he won’t immediately be Josh Allens’ new favorite target and give the Bills the boost they need.
