Jets’ Davante Adams, Steelers’ Russell Wilson expected to play Sunday night

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Davante Adams will be Aaron Rodgers’ house guest for a while, at least until the New York Jets’ newly acquired wide receiver gets situated.

So, they drove together to the team facility Wednesday morning. And then sat next to each other during the team meeting, just like old times.

“I turned to him and just said, ‘Man, how crazy is this?’” Rodgers said with a big grin. “It’s something that when we get together in the offseasons, we joke about, but it never seemed like a possibility or going to happen.

“So it’s good to be with him.”

The two longtime Green Bay Packers teammates will also be back together on the football field in Pittsburgh on Sunday night, when Adams expects to make his Jets debut and catch passes again from his pal.

“Definitely, I’ll be able to roll,” Adams said.

The star wide receiver, acquired from Las Vegas on Tuesday, was limited during the team’s walkthrough session. Adams missed the Raiders’ past three games with a hamstring injury that coincided with his request to be traded.

After a whirlwind 48 hours and months of speculation, he was back with Rodgers and in his familiar No. 17 jersey — this time in green and white.

“It’s been a roller coaster, for sure,” Adams said. “It’s a weird thing to say that I’m happy, but obviously, it was time for a change. And this whole thing kind of transpired a little weird, but at the end of the day, we’re in a better place.

“I think the Raiders are in a better place, as well. And everyone can kind of move on. But it’s definitely been a roller coaster — a little bit up and down and left and right here and there. But we ultimately got it done.”

The 31-year-old Adams caught 103 passes last season for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns for the Raiders, his second season in Las Vegas after eight with Rodgers in Green Bay.

He had 18 receptions for 209 yards and a touchdown in three games with Las Vegas this season before the hamstring injury — and subsequent trade request. Adams acknowledged he was frustrated and needed a change.

When asked about what he meant by both sides being better off, Adams said “let me choose my words carefully here” and talked about a difference in opinion of how he was being used, some of the offensive plans and how defenses were defending him.

“Just because they want to line up with the safety and try to play cover-2, we don’t just shut it down and move on,” Adams said. “Sometimes you’ve got to find a way to still make the play work because if you’re just looking for single coverage in order for me to make a play, I won’t be able to make many plays over the course of a year, just based on how I’m being played by a lot of these defenses.

“I think some of it is: Get me to a place where I’ve got a lot of familiarity with this offense and the quarterback. (Rodgers) understands how I see the game and how I see the ball thrown and all those things and sometimes he can make it easier.”

Adams and Rodgers will immediately renew their on-field connection, which was one of the greatest quarterback-wide receivers in recent NFL history. Adams caught 615 passes from Rodgers for 7,517 yards and 68 touchdowns during eight seasons together in Green Bay. That’s the most in all three categories between any combination of active players.

He’ll join a suddenly crowded Jets wide receivers group that includes Garrett Wilson, who leads New York with 41 receptions, Allen Lazard, Mike Williams, Xavier Gipson, Irvin Charles and rookie Malachi Corley. There are some questions as to how new offensive play caller Todd Downing will be able to find roles for everyone while also integrating Adams into the system.

“It’s a really cool problem to have,” interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “It’s going to give us an opportunity to have more flexibility where we move these guys around.”

Williams, a free agent signing last offseason, has been slow to develop a rapport with Rodgers. He was the intended receiver when Rodgers threw interceptions on the Jets’ last offensive series in losses to Buffalo and Minnesota. Rodgers said Williams was in the wrong spot on the throw that was picked off by Taron Johnson on Monday night.

Adams’ arrival, in particular, clouds Williams’ role in the offense. Williams was not at the team’s walkthrough Wednesday for what the team listed on the injury report as “personal” reasons.

Meanwhile, ESPN reported Adams restructured his contract to lower his salary cap this season and two voidable years were added, so the sides can negotiate moving forward. His salary cap hit would be $44.1 million in each of the next two seasons.

Adams made it clear he’s looking at the Jets as a long-term destination.

“I mean, I hope so,” he said. “That’s the plan. I mean, I want to be here. I never go somewhere in hopes of having to find a new home.”

Rodgers sat out the walkthrough while resting his banged-up left ankle. The 40-year-old quarterback was limited during the team’s first two practices last week before fully participating last Saturday. Ulbrich said Rodgers should practice Thursday and be fine to play Sunday.

Cornerbacks D.J. Reed (groin) and Michael Carter II (back) also didn’t practice and could miss the game.

FIRST-TEAM REPS FOR WILSON

PITTSBURGH — Mike Tomlin is keeping mum about who the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback will be on Sunday night against the New York Jets.

The tea leaves, however, aren’t difficult to read.

While Tomlin declined to get into specifics on how Russell Wilson and Justin Fields split snaps during practice on Wednesday, Wilson’s availability and Tomlin acknowledging that Wilson was “in consideration” to start for the first time this season likely means that barring some last-minute setback, Wilson will make his Steelers debut in primetime against Aaron Rodgers and the Jets.

Tomlin said only that any decision on the starter would be made “in-house” but several players said Wednesday that Wilson and Fields — who has played solidly while helping Pittsburgh to a 4-2 start — split reps with the first team.

The 35-year-old Wilson’s workload has steadily increased in practice over the past few weeks while recovering from a calf injury he first sustained when the team opened training camp then aggravated a couple of days before the season opener against Atlanta. The nine-time Pro Bowler was atop the depth chart at the time of the injury, and Fields never replaced Wilson on that sheet of paper even as he replaced Wilson on gameday.

Tomlin credited Fields for his play over the opening third of the season but said Wilson’s availability could change the paradigm in the quarterback room.

“We got a player with talent who hadn’t had an opportunity to play, so we’re going to potentially explore those things,” Tomlin said.

Wilson, signed to a one-year deal for the veteran minimum in March, was limited to a solitary series during the preseason. Yet Tomlin pointed to Wilson’s resume and experience as assets that leave Tomlin optimistic it would not take long for Wilson to shake off whatever rust remained from the longest inactive stretch of his 13-year career.

Wilson isn’t the only player potentially returning against the Jets. Outside linebacker Alex Highsmith practiced on Wednesday and could be back after missing three games with a groin injury.

“I’m feeling good, optimism is very, very high,” Highsmith said. “Just got to keep trending upwards, continue to feel better and keep getting better.”

The Steelers have been decimated by injury at the linebacker spot opposite star T.J. Watt. The team tasked Nick Herbig and DeMarvin Leal to fill in while Highsmith was out only to have both players get hurt themselves. Herbig is out with a hamstring injury and was placed on injured reserve last week with a neck injury.

Jeremiah Moon, claimed off waivers from Baltimore in February, played 45 snaps last week against the Raiders at outside linebacker and added a blocked punt on special teams, impressing Highsmith in the process.

“That blocked punt was huge,” Highsmith said. “It changed the game. We value that. Moon has been in the league a few years now. He knows what he’s doing. He did a great job coming in and stepping up.”