The saga between the Las Vegas Raiders and Davante Adams is well-documented. The team traded for the All-Pro wide receiver before the 2022 season, holding the belief that his rapport with Derek Carr, his college quarterback, was going to push the franchise over the edge.
What unfolded over the next two and a half years, however, was nothing short of chaotic for the Silver and Black. Not only did Derek Carr get benched and ultimately released during the first year, but Adams became disgruntled and had no problem airing out his concerns publicly.
After another half season of cryptic messages and questionable commitment to the team, the Raiders ended up trading him to the New York Jets during the 2024 season. There, he was reunited with his former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but the two failed once again in the Big Apple.
Davante Adams' recent comments prove his weird obsession with Raiders
Now, Adams is a member of the Los Angeles Rams and is looking to revive his career under head coach Sean McVay. However, in a recent interview with The Athletic's Michael Silver, Adams couldn't stop bringing up his former team.
"Well, first I've got to make sure it's not me," Adams said in jest. "If it gets dysfunctional (in Los Angeles), it means that I was the one making those organizations dysfunctional."
While nobody would argue that the Raiders have been a well-run organization over the last several years, Adams has no right to disavow the team's struggles. For as much individual success as he's enjoyed in the NFL, Adams has never sniffed a championship, even with a four-time MVP quarterback playing for one of the most competent franchises in the league.
Adams went on to describe the moment that things shifted for him in Las Vegas, and to no surprise, his concerns centered around himself only.
"If I was Scooby-Doo, I would've went, 'Urrrrrrrrrrr?'" said Adams. "Like, you literally brought me here, you knew the reason why ... me going there for Derek (Carr), everybody in the world knew that. And then to be in a situation where now you just pull him from me after we had a very productive year?"
While Adams did have a tremendous individual season in 2022 with Carr under center, the team won only six games, and Carr turned the ball over 18 times. For someone who claimed to be a Raiders fan his entire life, he had zero pulse on Raider Nation or the franchise, both of which had been split on the quarterback for years and desperately wanted to win more than six games.
At the end of the day, the Davante Adams experiment in Las Vegas was a failure. The team unnecessarily gave up major draft capital for a grand sum of 16 wins, and Adams showcased serious signs of slowing down while wearing the Silver and Black. While his tenure with the Raiders is surely a sore spot for the aging wide receiver, there's no reason for him to keep dragging the franchise.
