Raiders Rumors: Adams, Renfrow, OL

Shortly after the Raiders’ plan to separate from Derek Carr surfaced, Davante Adams indicated he was not planning to make an effort to follow his ex-college teammate out the door. Adams is signed through 2026 on what is still the NFL’s second-most lucrative receiver deal. The Raiders have made some changes this offseason, most notably replacing Carr with Jimmy Garoppolo. Adams made some cryptic comments about the franchise’s direction this week.

“[The front office] thinks this is the best bet for us right now to put us in a position to be urgent,” Adams said regarding the team’s offensive vision, via The Ringer’s Mirin Fader. “We don’t see eye-to-eye on what we think is best for us right now. … I’m going to have to buy into this and try to be as optimistic as possible. It’s not what I expected to happen, but it’s something that’s the reality now.”

Rumored to be potentially kept in the loop regarding the Raiders’ big-picture decisions, Adams expressed hesitancy regarding his fit with Garoppolo. The veteran quarterback is tied to the Raiders through at least 2023, due to his $33.75MM guarantee, and may well be a multiyear Las Vegas starter, seeing as the team did not draft a quarterback.

“It all depends on the style of ball that we play,” Adams said. “If we play a certain brand of ball, I can get [Garoppolo] to conform to whatever. But if we use him a certain type of way, then it’s going to make it tough for us to maximize who we should be this year.”

For what it’s worth, Adams shared a photo with GM Dave Ziegler after that interview surfaced. Adams, who will turn 31 later this year, earned his third straight first-team All-Pro honor last season. He will team with Josh Jacobs, Hunter Renfrow and UFA addition Jakobi Meyers as Garoppolo’s lead supporting cast. Here is the latest out of Vegas:

• While Ziegler and Josh McDaniels signed off on Renfrow’s two-year, $32MM extension during the 2022 offseason, the veteran slot player delivered underwhelming early returns in McDaniels’ system. After Renfrow’s 1,038-yard 2021 showing helped drive the Raiders into the playoffs, he managed just 330 in 10 games last year. Since giving Renfrow that extension, the Raiders have signed Meyers to an $11MM-per-year deal and drafted slot target Tre Tucker in Round 3. Pegging the odds of Renfrow being elsewhere by 2024 as “90%,” The Athletic’s Vic Tafur notes he joined Darren Waller in being a poor fit for McDaniels’ offense (subscription required). McDaniels also cut down on Renfrow’s route improvisations, which were encouraged under Jon Gruden. Trading Renfrow in 2024 (when his base salary spikes to $11.2MM) would save the Raiders $8MM.
• The Raiders have surprisingly made it to mid-May without adding a starter-caliber outside free agent on their offensive line. That might not be the case by training camp. Citing the team’s potential to add a veteran guard or tackle, Tafur adds he would be “shocked” if Alex Bars remained the team’s right guard starter. Pro Football Focus rated Bars, a former Bears UDFA, as the Raiders’ worst starting O-lineman by a wide margin last season. Guard Dalton Risner remains unsigned, as do Rodger Saffold, Pat Elflein, A.J. Cann and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Longtime Raider Gabe Jackson, whom Gruden traded to the Seahawks in 2021, is also available. The Raiders also showed interest in Paris Johnson, per Tafur. Although the Cardinals discussed a deal with the Raiders for the No. 7 pick, Arizona moving ahead of Vegas for No. 6 (to take Johnson) makes sense.
• The team re-signed right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor but also brought back 2021 right tackle starter Brandon Parker, who missed last year with an injury. Eluemunor will also be a candidate to slide to guard, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore, after having played there in the past. That would be an internal way to upgrade from Bars. Second-year tackle Thayer Munford and Justin Herron, one of many ex-Patriots in Vegas, stand to factor in for the RT gig.