Davante Adams‘ 2018 season was as good as anything we have seen from a receiver of the Green Bay Packers. Adams was one reception short of Sterling Sharpe’s single-season franchise receiving record (112) and 133 yards off of Jordy Nelson’s receiving yards record (1519). It should be noted that he did this all while sitting out the final game of the year.

2018 was unquestionably Adams’ best season as a pro, but it was by no means out of left field. Since being selected in the second round back in 2014, Adams has been a consistent force for Green Bay and has shown that he possesses dominant traits at the receiver position. His production over the last three years, in particular, puts him in the top echelon of receivers in the league, but still, he is overlooked as one of the best pass-catchers in the game. How is this possible, and what does he have to do to gain the respect he deserves?

A HOF Quarterback

One of the biggest trends among the top receivers in the NFL is that most of them play with average to below average quarterbacks. Odell Beckham Jr. has dealt with Eli Manning his entire career. A.J. Green has Andy Dalton, Mike Evans has a volatile Jameis Winston, and DeAndre Hopkins has only recently been given a competent quarterback to work with.

There are a few exceptions to this rule of course. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Antonio Brown, and Michael Thomas have all played alongside Hall of Fame quarterbacks (although Thomas has suffered a similar fate as Adams is not being given much credit for his production). Julio Jones is a hard one to categorize. On the one hand, Matt Ryan is a former league MVP, but on the other, he is one of the most inconsistent players in the league. The point is, the vast majority of superstar receivers in the NFL don’t play with top-tier quarterbacks.

My hypothesis why this is the case: Quite simply, quarterbacks that don’t have the talent or can’t read the field continually zero in on the one guy they know can make plays for them, which in turn boosts that players production. A perfect example of this is the 2017 Green Bay Packers offense.

With Aaron Rodgers at the helm, Adams was still a focal point in the passing game. Rodgers, however, was so good at spreading the ball around to the likes of Nelson, Randall Cobb, and Geronimo Allison, that Adams was just another cog in the engine. When Brett Hundley came in midway through the season to relieve Rodgers, the entire passing game became about Adams.

There were times during that season, (Week 10 at Chicago is the most prominent example) where it was borderline laughable watching Hundley try to force-feed Adams play after play. That sort of style doesn’t translate well in the win column but works wonders for a receiver’s production.

When you think of the Atlanta Falcons offense, you immediately think of Julio Jones because of how centralized the game plan is around him. It’s the same with DeAndre Hopkins in Houston, A.J. Green in Cincinnati, and it was the same with Odell when he was in New York.

Because Green Bay is so strong at the quarterback position, their offense doesn’t need to be built around their star receiver. Even when Adams had a monster season from a production standpoint as he did in 2018, the optics don’t make him look as dominant.

Green Bay Packers are a small market team

Adams is held back by playing in a small market, but not in the traditional sense. The Green Bay Packers are one of the most interesting franchises in American sports. Despite being by far, the smallest market in the nation, the Packers brand blows most other teams out of the water.

Most players in small markets are held back because of their lack of exposure. People talk about what they know and see, so when fans never get a chance to see a player because they are playing for a remote team that nobody cares about, that player gets forgotten and isn’t talked about. Because the Packers have one of the largest fan bases in the country, Adams doesn’t suffer from a lack of exposure.

Where Adams is held back is in the community aspect of the Packers organization. Only about 100,000 people live in the city of Green Bay. For reference; the next smallest city in the NFL, Kansas City, is about five times the size of Green Bay. This creates a fascinating dynamic with the city of Green Bay and the Packers organization. Everything in the Green Bay area — and I mean EVERYTHING — is predicated around the Packers. And it’s a reciprocal relationship. The community is about the team, and the team is about the community.

This dynamic makes it hard for personal egos within the organization. And egos, whether you like them or not, play a huge role in keeping players relevant. This is why, in my opinion, the Packers were never serious contenders for an Antonio Brown trade this offseason. Brown is about his own brand, and that would not have been received well with Green Bay.

With Adams, it’s not as though his ego would be off the charts if only he played in a broader market. Adams is one of the few star receivers in the league who appears modest and tempered; a breath of fresh air in the NFL. But, playing for the Green Bay Packers suppresses any ounce of ego that Adams may have inside him. That lack of ego minimizes his self-brand and is a huge reason why fewer people talk about him around the league.