It seems like just a year ago, many were calling for Davante Adams to hit the sideline bench in favour of Jeff Janis.

In the crazy universe where that actually happened (I mean, get real, right?), it may be safe to say that the largest of crow has been served to Adams' previous skeptics. But who can blame them for being skeptical?

Adams' sampling size by the end of the 2015 season included a strong outing against New England in 2014, an attention-grabbing performance in the playoffs against Dallas and a sophomore season in which he only caught 53.2% of his passes. He also embarrassingly sported a dropped pass rate of 6.4% - the highest on the team last season outside of Janis' 8.3%, however, he saw just 12 targets.

Expectations continued to reign down on Adams, who came out of Fresno State at 21-years old and as the latest recipient of the Paul Warfield Award. Adams joined a list headlined by the likes of Calvin Johnson Jr., Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Moss and Keyshawn Johnson. That's not too bad of company to associate with. 

Choosing to forgo his final two college seasons to declare eligibility for the 2014 NFL Draft sparked questioning, of course. More so pertaining to Adams' skill set and how long it would take for maturation. After shattering a handful of Fresno State school records including most receiving touchdowns in a season (24), the questioning was rightfully justified.

Entering his third season in the NFL, Adams answered the curiosity with his play on the field. His eight touchdowns is second on the team behind the returning Jordy Nelson's nine and his 677 receiving yards since week five is the most in the league through that span.

"I always told everybody that once I was healthy, I was able to produce," Adams told reporters at his locker on Wednesday in the uncommon instance that the team skipped practice. "I'm not going to be perfect. I'm human, so. But, I feel great right now, so I'm just hoping to keep it rolling."

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence. The chase has been what has made Adams' 2016 that much more special.

He's currently tied for fifth in the NFL amongst wide receivers for most plays over 20 yards, racking up 14 alongside the Chargers' Tyrell Williams. Adams is also tied for the third-most receiving touchdowns with eight, locked neck-and-neck with Odell Beckham Jr. No, that wasn't a typo. The Packers' rising star has the same amount of receiving touchdowns as Larry Fitzgerald and Rob Gronkowski - combined. Albeit, Gronkowski has missed three games this season and Fitzgerald is 33-years old, that looks pretty impressive on paper.

The step from year one to year two and year three has been evident in Adams' progression, and the developmental aspect is arguably the most important. Coming out of Kansas State, Nelson had a suboptimal debut with the Packers, catching just 33 of his 54 targets his rookie year. He battled for playing time behind Greg Jennings, Donald Driver and James Jones for a majority of his first two seasons while serving as the team's primary kick returner through that duration.

After three dropped passes on 31 targets in 2009, things began to click for Nelson in 2010 as the Packers engineered their playoff run that ultimately culminated with head coach Mike McCarthy and his affiliates hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy in February. Since then, Nelson has become a household name for the Packers and the NFL. Can Adams follow suit?

"Knowing that I'm healthy and not having to worry about the pain of when I stick this foot down, how it's going to feel," Adams said. "I can just play and be free. When I'm able to just go out there and not worry about how my body is going to react to different movements and I can play fast, that's when the production comes."

After an injury-hindered campaign in 2015 that, for the most part, flew under the radar, Adams looks to stay healthy moving forward in hopes of matching or even conquering the trail left by Nelson.

"I just keep my head down and keep trucking through the rest of the season."