Calvin Ridley hasn’t been the type of receiver that the Titans expected him to be when the team signed him to a four-year, $92 million contract in 2024, so the two sides agreed to a restructured deal that includes an $8.75 million pay cut. Ridley has the chance to earn some of the money back through incentives, if he’s able to stay healthy and produce at a level expected of a highly-paid receiver.
Shouldn’t Davante Adams do the same?
We already know that the Rams kept Adams on the roster through a date that paid him a $6 million roster bonus, which in itself would be a really good pay day for anybody who didn’t reach 800 yards last season. Puka Nacua’s entire take-home pay this year (not including a probable extension) is under $6 million.
Is it unreasonable to believe that a highly-drafted rookie who was paired with Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay and playing alongside Puka could reach 800 yards?
The Rams signed Adams to a two-year, $44 million contract in 2025, taking a huge risk on a 32-year-old receiver who would have struggled to reach 1,000 yards the previous season if not for best friend Aaron Rodgers feeding him an inordinate number of passes on the worthless New York Jets offense.
Adams received a $12 million signing bonus, an $8 million salary in 2025, and now a $6 million roster bonus. That’s a total of $26 million already paid to Adams, which comes out to $33,000 per yard.
I suppose when a team is paying $10,000,000 for Tutu Atwell, by comparison Adams does still look like a Hall of Fame talent in his prime. But at age 33, having missed several games last season due to injury, and producing almost exclusively inside the 10-yard line, there has to be some question as to whether Adams is worth $1 million per game in 2026.
Would Adams give back?
The Rams owe Davante Adams an $18 million base salary in 2026, a little more than $1 million per game. None of it is guaranteed.
Rumors of L.A.’s attempt to trade Adams is logical reasoning because teams rarely want to pay that much money for anyone, let alone a receiver who turns 34 in December. If Adams had produced 1,300 yards last season and was never injured then Rams fans might believe that he’s got rare longevity. However, that’s not what happened. Even a healthy Adams would not have reached 1,000 yards in a 17-game season with the NFL’s MVP throwing him the ball.
If Calvin Ridley can give back $8.75 million and try to earn it back through incentives, couldn’t Adams do the same, which in turn would give the Rams that much more of a chance to win the Super Bowl? Isn’t that the goal?
Adams is not an $18 million or $24 million player anymore. He probably won’t get to 1,000 yards, he probably won’t appear in 17 games, and he probably won’t be that much better — if at all better — than a first round rookie receiver who is making $22 million over the life of his entire 4-year contract.
But if Adams told the Rams to take back $10 million and give him a chance to earn back $5 million by playing in every game and reaching 1000 yards, with another $2 million for winning the Super Bowl, he too could be doing his franchise a solid—and avoid being traded or released, which is still totally on the table—just like Ridley did for the Titans.
If Adams was a free agent, he would not be making $18 million. Find out what the number really is and that’s what Adams should agree to make with the Rams after already collecting $6 million.
