Tafur: Why the Davante Adams-Raiders marriage was wrong from the start
Two and a half years ago, the Las Vegas Raiders traded for Davante Adams. It was a big day. There may have been balloons. They gave up a first- and a second-round pick to get one of the elite receivers in the league, and some members of the media got pretty excited about it.
But the Raiders never even sniffed the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl, and poor decisions and a general lack of success have wiped out the relationship to the point where Adams will most likely have his last game for the Silver and Black played.
According to a league source, Adams requested a trade on Monday, a day after the Raiders defeated the Cleveland Browns without him. Adams was out with a hamstring injury, but apparently his feelings were hurt when coach Antonio Pierce liked an Instagram post insinuating that Adams could be traded. Pierce didn’t say whether that was a mistake or not; He will speak to the media on Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT. But even if it was an accident, a trade would solve a problem with Pierce that has been lingering since training camp — and with the organization since long before that.
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Look, Adams and the Raiders were never on the same page. That includes two front office regimes and six starting quarterbacks in Adams’ 37 games with the franchise.
Adams signed with the Raiders in the trade, partly because he grew up a fan of the team in East Palo Alto, California, but mainly because he wanted to play with his good friend and college quarterback at Fresno State, Derek Carr. General manager Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels not only traded two premium picks for Adams, but also gave Carr a contract extension and signed free-agent pass rusher Chandler Jones to signal they were all in.
But… they weren’t. There were holes in the roster, and Ziegler and McDaniels soured on Carr that they benched him for the final two games of the 2022 season. They ended up cutting the franchise’s all-time leader in passing passing yards without getting anything in return.
Adams tried to say the right things, but he started to lose patience when McDaniels brought in Jimmy Garoppolo as the starting quarterback in 2023. Teammates have always loved Garoppolo, but this version — the one who failed a physical when he signed, had foot surgery and subsequently couldn’t make accurate passes — was tough for the six-time Pro Bowl receiver to swallow.
A loss to the Detroit Lions the day before Halloween was the final straw for Adams, who hit his helmet on the ground during the game, and, as it turned out, for owner Mark Davis, who fired Ziegler and McDaniels the next day. Pierce, previously the linebackers coach, was promoted to interim head coach and he immediately benched Garoppolo for rookie Aidan O’Connell.
Adams had a camera crew follow him around last season for the Netflix documentary “Receiver,” and his claim on the show that he “signed off” on the Garoppolo bench irritated some in the Raiders building. (He would use the same phrase again after Gardner Minshew II beat out O’Connell for the starting quarterback job in August.) Adams and his family members also took some verbal shots at Garoppolo during the show.
Some saw Adams putting himself in front of the team at times, and many teammates rolled their eyes when he came across on the show. There was a lot of dramatic grumbling and “I” talk instead of “we” talk, which didn’t go over well when the program aired right before training camp this summer.
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Adams had talked about a “new slate” as recently as July, but throughout training camp and the preseason it felt like something was off. Adams left the team during camp for the birth of his first son, and although the team thought it would only be for a few days, Adams was gone for ten days. When he came back he said he didn’t want to play. in the second game of the preseason. (He hasn’t soiled his uniform in the preseason since 2017.)
Pierce was told the next day of Adams’ preference and replied, “No, if you’re healthy, you play.”
Guess who got injured the next day?
Adams now has a legitimate hamstring injury and was unlikely to play against the Denver Broncos on Sunday anyway. It’s a shame that many on social media thought he was making a “business decision” thanks to comments Pierce made after an embarrassing Week 3 loss to the Carolina Panthers. The coach openly questioned his players’ efforts – a mistake, he later admitted. And while Adams didn’t play well in that game, totaling just four receptions on nine targets for 40 yards, it appeared that Pierce was instead referencing several defensive players (cornerback Jack Jones was benched for the first quarter against the Browns ).
To be clear, Pierce liked the Instagram post and it was another mistake. Regardless of his guilt or intent, something like this just can’t happen. I can’t imagine Andy Reid spending much of his free time on social media.
“It’s always some kind of drama,” Adams said during his weekly paid appearance on the show “Up & Adams.” “But in the end, 17 doesn’t create any of it.”
3x All Pro WR Davante Adams addresses his HC Antonio Pierce and likes a post suggesting Adams will be traded…
“I haven’t heard from him (Pierce)…I don’t know exactly what that’s all about.”@heykayadams @tae15adams @Raiders pic.twitter.com/xMusj9nMFx
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) October 1, 2024
The Raiders have indeed been ridiculous telenovela for twenty years, but Adams is not an innocent victim. He has spoken regularly for two years about his frustrations and the possibility of reuniting with former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and he could soon get his chance if the New York Jets offer the Raiders a second-round draft pick or third round offer.
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But you can’t really blame him. The Raiders were 6-11 in 2022 and 8-9 last season. This year, nine wins seems like the best-case scenario after a measured free-agent approach by new general manager Tom Telesco and some season-ending injuries on defense.
Adams has had enough. And whether they trade him this week or closer to the Nov. 5 trade deadline, that goes for Pierce and the Raiders as well.
(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
