HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders are less talented but at least they have closure with the trade of Davante Adams to the New York Jets finally happening on Tuesday. But the receiver didn’t go quietly, telling reporters in New York on Wednesday that he felt “helpless” in the Raiders offense.
Raiders offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said Thursday that he “didn’t know the answer” to why it didn’t work with Adams. The Raiders traded a first- and second-round pick for Adams in 2022 and only got back a conditional third-rounder on Tuesday after he had asked out.
“After all those conversations his whole time here, for whatever reason it went the way that it went,” Getsy said. “We wish him nothing the best … we’re in great shape. We feel great about who we have in the building and we’re just moving forward.”
Davante Adams on his trade request and conversations with the Raiders: “I don’t want the helpless feeling … I want to feel like I can impact the game every time I touch the field.
Said he felt like too many things needed to go right for him to be successful in the Raiders…
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) October 16, 2024
Getsy was with the Green Bay Packers when Adams and Aaron Rodgers were there, and Adams had said he was excited about working with Getsy again after he was hired in Las Vegas this offseason. But he was frustrated with the Raiders quarterback situation, and after catching 18 passes on 27 targets for 209 yards and a touchdown in three games and straining his hamstring, Adams told coach Antonio Pierce that his career couldn’t end like this.
Adams told reporters Wednesday that he thought both he and the Raiders were in “a better place” now. And he obviously saw on social media that many Raiders fans think he quit on the team.
“They see ‘trade demand’ and they think it’s like, he wants out, he’s quitting on the team,” Adams said. “When it’s more about just being able to feel like I can … I don’t want that helpless feeling when I’m on the field.
“Not every game is going to be a 100-yard game or 150, 200-yard game. But I want to feel like I can impact the game every time I touch the field … versus getting out there on the field and feeling like we need too many things to go right in order for me to be successful.”
Adams went on to say that the Raiders too often let defensive coverages dictate whether to throw him the ball or not.
As for the Raiders, does the Adams’ trade mean they are now in rebuilding mode?
“No,” Pierce quickly responded Wednesday.
As for his messaging to the team:
“Next man up, move on,” Pierce said. “He was out for the last (three) weeks, so we’re fine. … That’s how we’ve been really operating the last couple weeks.
“You never replace an All-Pro receiver like Davante. But at the end of the day, we’re not trying to. We’re trying to be the best versions of ourselves.”
GO DEEPER
Why Davante Adams’ breakup with Raiders felt inevitable once Derek Carr was released
His former teammates were not overly sad to see Adams go, despite his obvious talent. Privately, many weren’t happy with how he put himself in front of them in the Netflix documentary “Receiver” this summer, and teammates also rolled their eyes about how he made a trade demand the day after a Raiders win over the Cleveland Browns to get to 2-2.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
But everybody was diplomatic and talked about what a great player he was in the locker room on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s like a period on a weird situation,” receiver Jakobi Meyers said. “Instead of a comma or a dot, dot, dot. Whatever you call that.”
Elipses.
“There we go, man,” Meyers said, smiling. “But yeah, at least now we know what we’re working with. Hopefully, everybody’s happy and we can just make plays with what we’ve got.”
Quarterback Aidan O’Connell said it’s been a rough couple of weeks with Adams’ status up in the air.
“Yeah, it’s been hard,” he said. “Obviously, we love Tae and wish he was here. An awesome player, great guy for us, has meant a lot to me in my career thus far, and so definitely going to miss him.
“Clarity is always good. But I think more than that, we’ll just miss him.”
GO DEEPER
Tafur: Why the Davante Adams-Raiders marriage was wrong from the very beginning
Adams said in the “Receiver” show that he “signed off” last year on Jimmy Garoppolo getting benched and O’Connell being named the starter. And it was no secret that he preferred O’Connell over Gardner Minshew II this year, but the coaching staff started Minshew for the first five games.
“He was always pouring into me, showing his encouragement and support for me,” O’Connell said. “And so, yeah, I have a lot of great memories. Obviously, he made me look good on a lot of great catches.”
O’Connell is excited about Tre Tucker and DJ Turner having bigger roles alongside new No. 1 receiver Meyers (who missed last week’s game with an ankle injury but is expected to return to practice on Friday).
“Those guys are workers,” he said. “Obviously, both of those guys have awesome speed, which is fun to watch. But I think, really, just tinkering with the rest of their game has been fun to watch for both of those guys. I mean, even as I’m talking, I think Tre is in there working out. … So, it’s fun to see guys like that, and that permeates throughout the whole locker room.”
Tight end Brock Bowers leads the Raiders with 37 catches for 384 yards and was already lining up everywhere before Adams begged out.
He admitted that the vibe is “a little bit different, just missing that piece.”
“But we’ve got other dudes here that are going to pull through, hopefully,” Bowers said. “And we’ve got to get healed up a little bit with Jakobi and stuff, and we’re on the right track.”
As far as the older players, Maxx Crosby didn’t want to get into it much. Crosby was one of three players who owner Mark Davis leaned on when deciding to give then-interim coach Pierce the full-time job this season. And the other two, Adams and Josh Jacobs, are both gone already.
“Davante is my boy,” Crosby said. “I love him to death. It’s really all I can say. You know, that’s my guy but … I’m focused on who’s here now.”
(Photo of Davante Adams’ introductory news conference in New York:
Ed Mulholland / Getty Images)
