Generally speaking, when a headline asks a yes or no question, the answer is “no.” It’s called Betteridge’s law of headlines, and it’s a consistent guide in the journalism world.
If we apply it here, the law tells us that no, Davante Adams won’t recreate his 2025 production in 2026.
OK, so it’s unlikely that Adams leads the NFL in receiving touchdowns in his age-34 season. But what can we expect from the veteran receiver?
It’s not impossible, but it would be somewhat shocking to see him completely fall
off a cliff. Adams’s game is built to last, as it’s based far more on technique and precision than it is on raw, physical gifts. He’s been an elite route runner with a top-tier release for the balance of his career, and it’s a career with legitimate Hall of Fame credentials. Those kinds of players generally age more gracefully at the position.
That said, his transformation last year into the best red zone weapon in the league probably won’t continue. It could, certainly, but the odds don’t favor it. Again, he’ll turn 34 this season (albeit quite late in the year) and individual red zone production can be a volatile statistic. Even if he’s able to separate at nearly the same clip as 2025 near the goal line, there are numerous reasons why he might not score at the same level as he did a year ago.
Given his age, you have to temper expectations at least somewhat, and the 2025 season is a good example why. Only six players who turned 34 or older during last season caught a pass. One of those players was Aaron Rodgers, who caught a deflection and lost nine yards. Let’s take that fluke out, leaving us with just five “skill-position” players in that age group who caught a pass in 2025.
- Travis Kelce: 108 targets, 76 receptions, 851 yards, 5 TD
- Zach Ertz: 72 targets, 50 receptions, 504 yards, 4 TD
- Adam Thielen: 35 targets, 19 receptions, 186 yards, 0 TD
- Taysom Hill: 16 targets, 11 receptions, 91 yards, 0 TD
- Kyle Juszczyk: 28 targets, 24 receptions, 213 yards, 2 TD
That list features two tight ends, one wide receiver, one positionless offensive weapon and one fullback. That one wide receiver, the closest allegory for Adams, averaged under 10 yards per receptions, never scored and finished with a 45.7% success rate, over five percentage points below league average (per Pro-Football-Reference’s calculations.
Thielen, like Adams, has always won more with route running and separation ability than physical domination, so if that’s enough to give you pause that’s understandable. But Adams will be playing his age-34 season in a far better ecosystem than either of the ones Thielen played in last season, and Adams is simply a better player than Thielen ever was.
For what it’s worth, in 2024 there were also only five players in their age-34 season or older who caught a pass: Kelce, Ertz, Thielen, Hill and Marcedes Lewis (one catch, two yards). That only further hammers home that Adams is entering somewhat unchartered territory.
Back to the original question. What can we actually expect from Adams in 2026? He’s WR2 in this offense behind Puka Nacua, and there isn’t a ton of depth behind him, but this offense shouldn’t require him to be an All-Pro again like he was in his late 20s.
Nacua will see a mass quantity of targets again. The Rams have an inordinate number of tight ends in training camp and have invested both significant financial and draft capital in plenty of them, those guys will be featured heavily. And every Sean McVay team is going to run the ball plenty. When you add in all those factors, it could realistically lower Adams’s production ceiling but should also keep him from putting too much wear and tear on his body over the course of 18 weeks.
Given what his role was last year, touchdowns are more important than yardage for Adams. If he racks up something in the neighborhood of the 500-700 yard range, that should be just fine. Scoring-wise, though, he hasn’t tallied fewer than eight touchdowns in seven years, and he’s scored eight or more times in nine of his 12 seasons. That seems like a reasonable goal this year, considering it’s been his baseline for the better part of a decade and he will have plenty of opportunities in this offense.
Of course, that would still be somewhat unprecedented in recent memory. The last player to haul in eight or more receiving touchdowns in their age-34 season or later was Jimmy Graham in 2020 with the Chicago Bears. Prior to that? Anquan Boldin with the Detroit Lions in 2016.
He was Boldin’s quarterback that season? Matthew Stafford.
It’s probably not smart to expect another career season from Davante Adams in 2026. But another season in which he’s a dangerous redzone weapon and a consistent, reliable target for Stafford? That’s a much safer bet.
