A little over a week after first-year Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce responded to an embarrassing home opening loss to the Carolina Panthers by stating his belief that certain players in Silver and Black were “making business decisions,” during the loss, Pierce’s own ominous and fiery promise to respond in kind could already be coming to fruition for one of the franchise’s only two true superstar performers. This comes as rumours continue to circulate and intensify surrounding Las Vegas’ Pro Bowl pass catcher, DaVante Adams.
Although the Raiders reportedly rebuffed trade proposals from multiple teams over the summer and during the off-season, as a number of other clubs were said to have aggressively inquiring whether the soon-to-be 32 year-old Adams would be available via trade. At the time, and up until recently, the Raiders front office staff reportedly repeatedly considered any talks of a trade for Adams to be a total nonstarter, further underscored by the fact that Vegas had supposedly already turned away at least two teams before an offer could even be made, according to published reports.
However, after the veteran wideout missed the team’s big Week 4 win over Cleveland with a nagging hamstring injury he suffered the previous week in practice, the noise surrounding his potential move out of southern Nevada has only grown louder.
While the strained hammy that hampered him and prevented Adams from being a part of the Browns victory is thought to be mild and “day-to-day,” Adams on Tuesday said that while he is still “trying to get healthy,” and “doing everything” that he can “to stay on top of that,” (the injury). He also seemed to be reticent to rush back on the field, saying that “the worst thing you can do, especially with a situation like a hammy is trying to force it, get out there and do long-term damage because you’re trying to be greedy and not understand the process.”
The timing, both of Adams sitting out his first game in three years, and of the tit-for-tat comments regarding “business decisions” – for which he has since backtracked and apologized- from Pierce do not appear to be coincidental however, as multiple reports on Tuesday loudly suggested that the Raiders either would, or already are, considering trading the veteran wide receiver from Fresno State, potentially ending his tumultuous yet once promising tenure with the Silver and Black after less than a two-and-a-half seasons.
Adams, affectionately known to teammates as “Tay” has shown himself to be a still very productive player when healthy. However, he will be 32 years -old on New Years Eve, 2024; and, as many interested observers have pointed out, catching passes from the likes of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell at quarterback, may not necessarily be his idea of an ideal situation.
Though to be fair, any receiver is obviously going to have the quarterback play around him, impact his own production, Adams appears to have taken a step back from his peak years as the primary target of former league MVP Aaron Rodgers during their time together in Green Bay. From the 2018 to 2021 season, Adams was tops in the NFL in receiving yards per game at nearly 100 (93.2) yards per game. In fact, Adams’ averaged 89.2 yards receiving per game in 2022, his first year campaigning in the Raiders’ vaunted Silver and Black, earning himself his third straight All-Pro selection.
However unbeknownst to those involved things would soon take a turn as his former college teammate and QB Derek Carr’s play would plummet, eventually leading to his release. In combination with the ouster of former head coach Josh McDaniels, the situation was less than ideal for most of the 2023 campaign, with the Uber talented and hyper competitive Adams’ understandable frustrations clearly being shown throughout his appearances while being featured on the Peyton Manning-helmed Receiver NetFlix special.
The numbers seem to support his disillusion with the play at the QB position, as Adams hasn’t been close to being as impactful as he was during his peak days starting with Rodgers at Lambeau, as he (Adams) has averaged a pedestrian 67.7 receiving yards per game, since the start of last season.
To add to the mix is the fact that both Pierce and his star wideout have consistently appeared to not only not be on the same page, but possibly not even be reading from the same book; starting with Adams understandably choosing to miss the final two weeks of camp to return home for the birth of his first son. At the time, he said he would prefer not to play in the preseason at all, while Pierce for his part, stated that all starters would suit up for the Raiders’ exhibition finale. However Adams cited lingering soreness following an “awkward movement” in practice, as the reason that he remained sidelined during the preseason.
As it stands now on Tuesday evening, it looks fairly obvious to most observers that Adams, who agreed to the Raiders trade at least partially, if not primarily to reunite with the a fore mentioned Carr his old college quarterback, only to play with him for one season with in Las Vegas wants out from a situation that is no longer what he envisioned upon his arrival in the Desert.
One can only imagine how Adams- who literally had only caught passes from two quarterbacks since his days in high school in Carr and Rodgers-sees things now, as the past season and a half has seen him attempting to corral often errant passes from the likes of Jimmy Garoppolo, Brian Hoyer, and Jarrett Stidham, along with O’Connell and now Minshew.
If Adams has indeed played his last game in Silver and Black, he will finish his time with the team with 18 catches for 209 yards and a touchdown through three games this season. Overall, Adams has recorded 221 catches for 2,869 yards and 23 touchdowns in 37 games with Las Vegas.
