The last year has been a bit of a whirlwind for wide receiver Davante Adams. He started the 2024 regular season on the Las Vegas Raiders‘ roster after an offseason full of trade rumors.
He eventually forced himself on the New York Jets, but that team quickly fell apart after he arrived. Despite being under contract, the Jets decided to cut him after the season.
Adams likely could’ve gone to a number of teams, but he ended up signing a contract with the Los Angeles Rams. However, they weren’t the only team he was considering. In an interview with Mike Silver of The Athletic, Adams revealed that he was also considering the San Francisco 49ers.
“I was entertaining the Niners,” Adams said, “but they were like, ‘We’re paying wholesale. We ain’t paying retail.’ I didn’t talk to them, but that’s what my agent told me — like five times, that quote. And I was like, ‘OK, well, I’m not a wholesale-type dude.’”
Adams, though a Raiders fan, grew up in Northern California, so playing for the 49ers would’ve allowed him to be close to home. Instead, he ended up with a different NFC West team.
Adams Talks Raiders Tenure
Adams’ Raiders tenure never went according to plan. He joined them after they made the playoffs in 2021 and was hoping to recapture some magic with quarterback Derek Carr.
That’s not what happened, and Carr was released after one season together.
“If I was Scooby-Doo,” Adams said, “I would’ve went, ‘Urrrrrrrrrrr?’ Like, you literally brought me here, you knew the reason why … me going there for Derek; 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? That was the first kind of confused moment that I had.
“And then things continued that next year … obviously what they decided to do and some of the moves they decided to make on offense. And things continued the next year again. (Initially), I was trying to feel good about it, more than actually what I was presented with — just the facts of who’s the head coach, who’s my receiver coach, who is the offensive coordinator, who’s calling plays, what the defense looks like, all that stuff.”
This past season was the last straw for Adams.
“Once we got to (2024), it was just a lot of the same,” Adams added. “And it was just clear to me that we weren’t being set up to be put in a situation where we could really go and win at a convincing rate. And it was time for me to go.”
Raiders Have Moved On
Adams continues to talk about the Raiders, but the truth is that many of the decision makers who were there when he was with the team are no longer with the franchise.
The Raiders are now being built by minority owner Tom Brady, head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek. None of the three had anything to do with either Adams trade. He clearly doesn’t have much love for the franchise, so it might be time for him to finally move on.
