Looking Back At Davante Adams Time With The Raiders And What Went Wrong
October 15th, 2024, the Raiders traded Davante Adams to the Jets for a conditional 2025 third-round pick that can turn into a 2025 second-round pick if he meets certain criteria. Since Adams arrived in Vegas, things never seemed right for many reasons. On paper, it seems as simple as the Raiders weren't good enough, but there is more to it than that.
The Beginning of the Adams Era:
On March 17th, 2022, the Raiders acquired Davante Adams from the Packers in a blockbuster trade that landed Green Bay a first and second-round pick. Despite a tumultuous 2021-2022 season, the Raiders made the playoffs and took the Bengals down to the game's last play in the wildcard. The Raiders felt like they were close to contending and Adams seemed like the missing piece. The newly hired tandem of Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler called up the Packers, got the deal done, and created an explosive offense on paper. The Raiders had an offense with Davante Adams, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow, Josh Jacobs, and Derek Carr. It was hard to find a better core of skill players than what Vegas had, but things quickly fell apart.
The Raiders would begin the season 1-4, with all four losses being by one score, and there was clear frustration. Adams was producing, but he and Derek Carr weren't clicking the way they had hoped. After their week six bye, the Raiders would put up 38 points on the Texans and win by 18, but they would lose their next three games and fall to 2-7. During those three games, the Raiders would fail to score against the Saints, blow a double-digit lead against the Jaguars, and lose to the Colts and Jeff Saturday in his first game as head coach. Things were not going well in Vegas, and people were already calling for Josh McDaniels to be fired. Things would get better, as the Raiders went on a three-game winning streak, but they would suffer another awful loss on Thursday night against the Rams and newly acquired Baker Mayfield. With just four games left, all the Raiders wanted was to finish the season on a high note, but they did quite the opposite. They had a miracle of a win against the Patriots, in one of the weirdest games in recent memory, and they would lose their last three games to end the season with a 6-11 record.
Vegas had a lot of decisions to make after a disappointing season, and the QB decision was seemingly the beginning of the end for Davante in Vegas.
The QB Decision:
One of the biggest reasons that Adams decided to come to Vegas was to reunite with his former college quarterback and good friend Derek Carr. The two had always talked about playing together again, and once Adams became available, the Raiders were the obvious destination. While the season didn't go as expected from a team standpoint, Adams did have arguably the best season of his career. He had 1,516 yards and 14 touchdowns, but Carr had quite the opposite season. He would be benched for the last two games of the season, and he would be subsequently released. Carr had been the Raiders starting QB since 2014 and had some great years. He was not the same player he once was, but he was still a good QB, and more importantly, he was the reason Adams came to Vegas.
With the Raiders deciding to pivot from Derek Carr, they needed to find a replacement. There were plenty of options, from Baker Mayfield to Jacoby Brissett to drafting a top rookie, but the Raiders didn't do any of that. Josh McDaniels signed his guy, Jimmy Garoppolo, to a 3-year deal. Despite the fact Jimmy G hadn't played under McDaniels since 2016, and was coming off a season-ending foot injury, the Raiders thought he could lead the team in the right direction. Along with bringing in Garoppolo, Vegas did draft a rookie in Aiden O'Connell, but he was a fourth-round pick and a projected backup. The Raiders had an opportunity to trade up and draft C.J. Stroud, but McDaniels overruled that possibility. He was only willing to trade up for Bryce Young who went first overall. Stroud has already cemented himself as a top-10 quarterback and a future face of the league, and he would have been the Raiders franchise quarterback for years to come.
After a shaky first season with Carr, a QB he trusted and knew, fans could only imagine what Adams's thoughts were on the new QB situation. Jimmy G was a fine QB, but he had an average arm at best, and lacked mobility. O'Connell was a rookie deemed a pocket passer, with no mobility and an average arm. Journeyman Briany Hoyer was also signed in free agency, and was a backup at best. The QB room was not inspiring and that proved to be the case.
The 2023-2024 Season:
Entering his second season with the team, Adams tried to have an open mind about the QB situation, but quickly started to lose it. The team started 1-0 after a hard-fought game vs. the Broncos, but they were demolished by the Bills in week two. In week three, Adams had a monster game hauling in 13 catches for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns. Despite the big game, the Raiders would lose to the Steelers. Jimmy G would throw 3 interceptions and suffer an injury. In week four, O'Connell would start for the injured Garoppolo, almost leading the Raiders to a comeback victory, but they fell short and fell to 1-3. They would rattle off two wins in a row against the Packers and Patriots to reach 3-3, but Adams was hardly involved in those games. Week 7 rolled around, Brian Hoyer got the start this time, and things went as bad as they could have. They got beat down by the Bears, who were starting an undrafted rookie at QB. Adams and the rest of the team were frustrated and running out of patience.
Before the team's week 8 game against the Lions, they held a meeting where everyone from coaches to players got things off their chest. It sounded like things went well, but the game was a mess. Garoppolo missed Adams on multiple wide-open passes, turned the ball over again, and the Raiders offense was terrible. After that game, owner Mark Davis decided something had to change, and he fired McDaniels and Ziegler. Antonio Pierce would be named the interim head coach for the rest of the season, and the first thing he did was name Aiden O'Connell the starting QB. Garoppolo was injured and bad, and the Raiders had nothing to lose by turning to AOC. With the rookie under center, Vegas would go 5-4 the rest of the way, and finish with an 8-9 record. Pierce had the whole team playing confident and free as if they had nothing to lose. AOC was letting it rip, the defense was playing great, the team was more united than ever, and things were looking bright.
Adams would finish the year with just 1,144 yards and 8 touchdowns. Those are great numbers for most, but not for Adams. With the season over, the Raiders had a decision to make on Antonio Pierce. Should he be the long-term head coach or not?
The 2024 Off-Season, The Trade Request, And The Trade:
After finishing the season on a high, Adams and others strongly advocated for Pierce to win the job, and he did. The Raiders made him the official head coach, and they pivoted to finding the QB of the future. Long story short, Vegas had no luck in the draft. The top six prospects were taken before the Raiders had a chance to pick at 13. In free agency, they signed Gardner Minshew to bring in some competition, but the plan was never for him to be the starter. Fast forward to the start of the 2024-2025 season and Minshew was starting under center.
The Raiders began the season 1-1, and had a great comeback win in Baltimore that seemed like it would build momentum. Instead of going forward, the team would get buried by the 0-2 Panthers in a way only true Raider fans could have seen coming. The following week, Vegas would play the depleted Browns without numerous key members, including Adams. The Raiders would win a close hard-fought game and they were 2-2. While the team was celebrating their gritty win, Adams decided to request a trade the next morning and it was a shocker.
There had always been speculation he could want out, but for him to ask out after a victory was not expected. Adams didn't feel like the Raiders could provide him with what he wanted and needed at this point in his career. He is 31 years old and wants to play meaningful football. There were people out there who believed Adams asked out because Antonio Pierce liked a post on Instagram. The post said Adams had played his last down with the team, but Pierce liked it after Davante had asked out. Adams just didn't think the Raiders could maximize him and get him where he wanted to go. He had too many games where he wasn't involved as much as he should have been, and there were too many games, due to poor quarterback play, the offense was underwhelming.
The split made sense for both sides, based on where the Raiders were at in their build, and where Adams is at in his career. After multiple weeks of holding out on a deal, on October 15th, the Raiders traded Adams to the Jets for a conditional third-round pick that can improve to a second-round pick. For Vegas to receive a second-rounder, Adams has to be either an All-Pro, or be active for the conference championship or Super Bowl if the Jets get that far.
The Raiders will pivot towards the future, looking towards the draft to finally find their franchise QB, and Adams has his eyes set on a long playoff run that ends in a Super Bowl.