The Las Vegas Raiders sent shockwaves around the league earlier this week by firing head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. As NFL fans know, these firings took place on the Oct. 31 trade deadline, leaving the Silver and Black between a rock and a hard place. Reportedly, the Jets called about Davante Adams, but owner Mark Davis shut that down.
The Jets Tried To Steal Davante Adams From The Raiders
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, New York phoned the Raiders before the deadline, inquiring about the perennial All-Pro wideout. Although trading Adams would make sense on the surface for a team unlikely to string together many more victories, it seems as though Las Vegas was more concerned with cleaning house than swinging deals.
Multiple outlets reported that interested teams were unable to get the Raiders to listen to offers. Some even went as far as saying the franchise “ghosted” the rest of the league as it sorted out the firings up top. Raider Nation is surely glad that letting McZiegs go took precedence, but could they regret not making any trades at the deadline?
It wasn’t long ago that Davante Adams was acquired for the hefty price of a first and second-round draft pick. A lucrative contract extension soon followed, effectively tying the star pass catcher to the Raiders for the remainder of his prime years. After an impressive debut campaign in Vegas catching passes from his college buddy Derek Carr, things were flipped drastically.
Adams Was Sold A False Bill Of Goods
The front office decided that Carr was not a quarterback worth building around. They released the nine-year veteran a few days after the 2022 season concluded before eventually replacing him with another long-time signal-caller, Jimmy Garoppolo. While “Jimmy G” was a worthwhile upgrade on paper, he has been anything but that in reality.
Garoppolo struggled to stay healthy, which has been a constant issue throughout his career. Perhaps even more concerning was his inability to take care of the football. His nine interceptions ranked atop the league at the time of his benching, and Adams has been a victim of the lackluster play behind center.
The 30-year-old superstar began voicing his frustrations earlier in the year. Adams spoke about wanting to win now — not later. He didn’t sign up for a rebuild, after all. When the team acquired him from Green Bay, it was fresh off a postseason berth and on the cusp of becoming contenders in the vaunted AFC.
Alas, with the team sitting at 3-5, including an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Justin Fields-less Chicago Bears, the Raiders are a far cry from the 2021 playoff squad. That led to a breaking point of sorts for Adams and Las Vegas in Week 8 on Monday Night Football. ESPN cameras caught the Fresno State alum looking dejected and fed up.
McDaniels and Ziegler would receive their pink slips the next day. And there’s a real chance this saved Raider Nation from losing one of the best players in team history. The New York Jets, amidst the organizational turnover in Sin City, attempted to pry Adams away prior to the deadline. Without an acting general manager, a trade ultimately never came to fruition.
Will The Raiders Regret Standing Pat?
As exciting as it is to watch Adams don the iconic Raider gear, would it have been better for the franchise to recoup some assets for the aging receiver? Or was Vegas better off holding onto Adams and using him as the ideal go-to target for a potential rookie quarterback this offseason?
The Jets likely would have needed to send a Day 1 pick for Adams, at minimum. New York is slated to pick No. 17 overall as of this writing, which would be a few spots ahead of the first-rounder used to acquire Adams initially. But now that he’s older, would a Day 2 pick also be in play?
As the always-polarizing Kanye West once said — I guess we’ll never know. What do you think, Raider Nation? Are you happy to hear the Raiders were unwilling to trade Davante Adams? Or do you wish the team had sent him packing at the deadline and used draft capital to select his long-term replacement?
*Top Photo: AP Photo/Jack Dempsey