After engineering a trade to the Raiders in 2022, Davante Adams‘ relationship with the team deteriorated after the benching of Derek Carr, eventually leading to Adams’ trade request and departure to the Jets.
His frustration stemmed from the Raiders’ lack of a long-term plan at quarterback after moving on from Carr, Adams’ college teammate at Fresno State, in favor of Jarrett Stidham during the 2022 season. Las Vegas released Carr and let Stidham walk in free agency during the offseason in favor of an expensive and injured Jimmy Garoppolo, despite interest from then-leadership duo of head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler in trading up for Bryce Young.
Adams expressed some doubt about the decision to sign Garoppolo, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini and Paul Gutierrez, the first sign of his discontent. He played through three starting quarterback changes and the midseason firing of McDaniels to record his fourth 1,000-yard season in a row in 2023 and endorsed interim head coach Antonio Pierce for the Raiders’ full-time gig. Adams then wanted to upgrade to a younger quarterback with a higher ceiling during the offseason, but was frustrated once again when new general manager Tom Telesco signed Gardner Minshew instead. With seemingly no long-term vision for the team’s most important position, the 31-year-old Adams sought greener pastures and officially requested a trade from the Raiders.
- The Raiders were aware of their star receiver’s frustration, but they were still shocked by the timing of the trade. The team believed that Adams’ hamstring was healthy enough to play in Week 5, but rather than declare himself ready to play, Adams told Pierce and Telesco that he wanted a trade.
- Once Adams identified teams he’d rather play for, the Raiders knew the writing was on the wall and prepared for a short- and long-term future without the All-Pro wideout. It was clear that Adams’ hamstring injury would keep him on the sidelines until he was in a new uniform, so Las Vegas considered him as good as gone before trade talks even picked up.
- Pierce said that there was “nothing to talk about” in regards to Adams’ sideline rants aired in Netflix’s “Receiver” documentary series, but his receiver’s profanity-laden outbursts drew plenty of attention around the league, especially since Adams allowed his comments to air. Adams had to be talked out of permitting even more critical vents about the team, indicating that his displeasure behind the scenes was even greater than what was showed publicly.
- Talks between the Jets and Raiders commenced at the beginning of September, with negotiations gaining steam ahead of the Jets’ visit to London in Week 5. With Adams zeroed in on a reunion with Aaron Rodgers, his eventual arrival in New York was only a matter of time.
- Raiders owner Mark Davis had previously expressed the desire to pair Adams with the franchise’s next long-term quarterback, but he admitted that the trade was a difficult, but necessary decision. “I’ve grown up in this sport,” said Davis, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. “There is the business side of the building and the football side of the building. The football side is tough love, man.”
I think Carr is still a better QB option for the Raiders.
I like to think Cam Ward will be.
They never should have moved on from Carr without any type of plan. Adams was right to be frustrated with that; it was a stupid decision by whomever made it.
Carr has always been a solid QB who, if you surround him with the right weapons and scheme, can win you games.
Garroppolo has always been made of glass.
They moved on with no real answer at QB and expected to win, which is a perfect example of why they’ve been a perennial bottom dweller for decades.
It doesn’t seem to me that the Jets have a great chance of making the playoffs, even in optimistic scenarios.
We all figure that they won’t win the division, barring a historic Bills collapse, which leaves them angling for a wildcard spot. If we’re looking at the state of the league today, it looks like the Jets’ competition will at the minimum be three other teams. It seems extremely likely that two of the AFC wildcard spots will be going to the AFC North, with either Pittsburgh or Cincinnati likely right now to grab those. Even if Baltimore falters-a single game could be enough to win the North, after all-they’d be a near lock for a spot. After that, who else is there? Denver has a winning record after seven games, and looks like it may surprisingly be competitive on the back of its tenacious defense. That’s assuming that Jacksonville hasn’t found its feet after a couple of decent outings or that the Chargers can’t have a midseason upswing as they figure out their offense. Not to mention, it doesn’t even consider competition from their own division in Miami, who just regained its starting quarterback. At a minimum, and at best, it seems that New York will be one of four teams competing for three spots.
Of course the Jets’ record is bad, but a few close losses may have given the team some hope that they could compete better in the future. I don’t know how much of that hope is left. The team is 2-5 right now. If they’re going to outcompete two teams from the AFC North, a team from the AFC West, and possibly one from the AFC South, they’ll probably need at least a total of ten wins. At barest minimum, they’ll need nine, but that figure to mean that some of the other teams collapsed down the stretch. It appears that they’ll need to win at least eight games of their next ten to give them that shot. More importantly, that gives the Jets probably only two losses to sustain to realistically reach ten victories. New York still has to play Houston, L.A., and Buffalo once again-not to mention the fact that they haven’t had either Miami game, yet. Even if you’re generous and given them nine wins to reach the playoffs, that’s only three allowable losses there. And, all of this is not considering the long term effect of firing their head coach.
Adams will need to make an impact quickly if the Jets have any chance at righting the ship this year. I would be very concerned going forward about the capability of the line to offer solid protection to allow for that going forward. Given the dire circumstances, the Jets probably have to make a move now for a consistent and quality lineman if they have any chance of reaching their win threshold for the playoffs. That’s probably why they haven’t moved Williams yet for picks-I think that they want to try and dangle him as a trade piece to get another player in lieu of future picks.
The problem is that there aren’t any teams with available linemen that would constitute a proven upgrade that would deal them right now. Carolina might be a possible partner if they want to try to move one of their high priced free agent signings, but those are long term deals that would significantly impact New York’s future, and I doubt that Carolina signed those players to deal them this early (and I’m suspicious of whether those deals were worth it, or that the players would be upgrades). Denver is winning for the moment, and though Bolles is coming on needing a new contract, the Broncos want to retain him to protect Nix. Besides, they will likely compete with New York for a wildcard spot if the Jets manage to make it that far. I don’t know if there is a player available to fill that role that a team is wanting to trade, especially one that could need a WR as well. Would the Cardinals take Williams and a pick to bolster their young and streaky WRs for, say, Jonah Williams? It’d be tricky.
But there is time until the end of the year, and things could change. Whatever the Jets do, they need to do it fast, because they’ve fallen pretty far behind in what needed to be a must win year. In my opinion, firing Saleh may have put the last word in what looks to be a disappointing season.
Yeah, I think it’s safe to assume Baltimore, Kansas City, Buffalo, Houston and Pittsburgh are all locks to make the playoffs. Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Denver are in that next tier down. With a healthy Tua, I actually like Miami better than either of those three, too. Plus you’ve got the Chargers and Jaguars. And, to be honest, I’m not convinced the Jets are significantly better than the Raiders; who won’t sniff the playoffs.
I just can’t see the Jets making it. You can’t string together wins in the NFL when you’re consistently losing the battle on the line of scrimmage. Couple that with the fact that I think Rodgers looks washed, and I’d be shocked if they got 8 wins. 6 or 7 feels about right.
Just to add, this is how I see it for the Jets the rest of the way. The Jacksonville game is where I’m undecided between 6 or 7 wins.
8 Sun, 10/27 @ NE {W}
9. Thu, 10/31 vs HOU {L}
10 Sun, 11/10 @ ARI {W}
11 Sun, 11/17 vs IND {W}
12 BYE WEEK
13 Sun, 12/1 vs SEA {L}
14 Sun, 12/8 @ MIA {L}
15 Sun, 12/15 @ JAX {W}
16 Sun, 12/22 vs LAR {L}
17 Sun, 12/29 @ BUF {L}
18 vs MIA {W}