Davante Adams has achieved practically every thing a large receiver might hope to throughout his ultra-productive 12-year NFL profession, however one key accomplishment has eluded him.
A visit to the Tremendous Bowl.
“It just feels almost like a mythical thing to me at this point,” Adams, 33, mentioned. “You do everything you can to get there. It’s been so hard, and I’ve been working so hard at it. We’re close. We just got to finish it off.”
Sunday is about to be Adams’ fifth look in an NFC Championship Sport. His fifth-seeded Los Angeles Rams (12-5) are visiting the top-seeded Seattle Seahawks (14-3) at Lumen Discipline with a Tremendous Bowl berth on the road.
Adams’ earlier 4 journeys to the convention championship sport got here with the Inexperienced Bay Packers, who misplaced all 4.
That’s why Adams wasn’t precisely giddy when the road-warrior Rams defeated the Carolina Panthers within the Wild Card spherical or the Chicago Bears in final weekend’s Divisional Spherical.
“Forgive me if I’m not smiling ear to ear after the first win or the second win,” mentioned Adams, who attributed his stoic demeanor to “having been here so many times and understanding exactly what it takes to get where we’re ultimately trying to go.”
Count on that to alter if the Rams pull off a light upset of the Seahawks on Sunday.
In spite of everything, Adams signed a two-year, $44 million contract with the Rams final March largely as a result of it gave him the prospect to play for a contender for the primary time in years.
That is Adams’ first journey to the postseason since January 2022, which ended up being his remaining look with the Packers.
He then performed 2 ½ years with the Las Vegas Raiders earlier than the Jets acquired him in an October 2024 commerce, reuniting Adams with quarterback Aaron Rodgers in a last-ditch effort to salvage that season.
Adams was productive with the Jets, hauling in 67 catches for 854 yards and 7 touchdowns in 11 video games.
However the Jets went simply 3-8 with Adams and completed 5-12.
Adams’ destiny was largely tied to that of Rodgers, whom the brand new regime of head coach Aaron Glenn and basic supervisor Darren Mougey opted to maneuver on from final offseason.
The discharge of Adams — who was set to depend $38.3 million in opposition to the wage cap — adopted, and he turned a Ram a few week later.
It proved to be a productive proposition, as Adams made 60 catches for 789 yards and an NFL-high 14 landing receptions in 14 video games.
“He’s meant so much, and he’s done so many different things,” head coach Sean McVay mentioned. “Obviously [he has] the stats and what he’s done in the red zone, but … there’s a lot of stuff that don’t go in the stats that move our offense forward, with the amount of [pass interference calls he draws], contact fouls.”
McVay continued, “He elicits attention that opens things up, but also, he’s a phenomenal leader. He’s got so much wisdom.”
Adams ranks seventh in NFL historical past with 117 receiving touchdowns and twenty sixth with 12,633 receiving yards.
Pairing the three-time All-Professional with star receiver Puka Nacua gave the Rams one of many NFL’s finest duos, serving to quarterback Matthew Stafford lead the league in passing yards (4,707) and touchdowns (46) in a possible MVP season.
Adams changed franchise stalwart Cooper Kupp, 32, whom the Rams launched in mid-March.
Kupp, the 2022 Tremendous Bowl MVP, signed with Seattle within the offseason and can face his former group on Sunday in one other compelling storyline.
That is the third time this season that the Rams and Seahawks will play one another. The groups break up their regular-season conferences, with Sam Darnold-led Seattle profitable an instant-classic Week 16 bout with first place within the NFC West on the road.
Adams missed that sport with a hamstring harm, which he mentioned “crushed” him. The Rams led, 30-14, within the fourth quarter of that sport, solely to lose in extra time, 38-37.
“My presence out there, I always feel like I can help, whether it’s making a play or just affecting coverage or whatever it is,” Adams mentioned forward of the playoff rematch. “It’s exciting to be able to get another crack at it.”
