Bill Belichick has been commenting a lot on Davante Adams and the Raiders in recent days, and he has been clear that he thinks the Raiders are asking too much for their All-Pro wide receiver.
“I think the Raiders are asking for a second-round pick,” Belichick said this week on the Pat McAfee Show. “I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s what has been reported.”
“That’s a very high price to pay for a player [with his contract],” he continued. “I’m not sure… what his contract situation would be next year, whether you could afford his contract next year, or whether the new team would want to re-do it. I think for really a one-year contract, I think that’s really more of like a fourth or a fifth-round pick.”
Belichick isn’t the only one saying Adams isn’t worth a second-round pick, but it’s particularly ironic that Belichick is so critical of the valuation considering he once gave a second-round pick for a wide receiver far less accomplished than Adams.
Back in 2019, Belichick gave the Atlanta Falcons a second-round pick for 30-year-old Mohamed Sanu. At the time, Sanu had never eclipsed 850 receiving yards in a season and that didn’t change once he joined the Patriots.
To Belichick’s point, it was definitely a bad idea to spend a second-round pick on a veteran wide receiver that wasn’t elite, but Adams falls into a different category than Sanu.
Adams is 31 years old, but if he has lost a step in his three years with the Raiders, he hasn’t lost much. He will eventually be in the Hall of Fame and is still considered by many to be a top-10 wide receiver in the league.
The Raiders appear to be taking the patient approach to trading Adams and at least one NFL insider believes there might be a team desperate enough to pay a premium for him.
“If I am [Jets GM] Joe Douglas, I’m going all in on trying to get Davante Adams,” FOX Sports insider Jordan Schultz said this week on the The VSiN Morning Line. “The Raiders have been adamant not only about getting a second-round pick, which I’ve heard no one has come even remotely close to, but also about not eating a significant portion of Davante Adams money, so you have not one, but two potential issues for teams trying to get Davante.”
“If you are Joe Douglas, who cares?” Schultz continued. “What do you care about a second-round pick? If you don’t win this year, you’re gone anyway. I have no doubt about that. If the Jets don’t win this year, I do not believe Joe Douglas will be retained. So, to me, he should be as aggressive as possible about trying to get Davante Adams.”
x: @raidersbeat
What/who idiot called that play for Laube. Stupid.
Based upon today’s Raiders-Steelers game-the Raiders stink out loud. Total embarrassment.
Should have hired harbaugh like I said!
Why are fans surprised by this? isn’t this what they listened to and supported when Al told the world he couldn’t get anything but a 4th rounder for Randy Moss?
Why? because the owners got together because they wanted a Super Bowl with huge ratings and needed a star WR for Tom Brady. they knew Moss would help get New England to the Super Bowl and the NFL ASKED the owners to refuse an offer from Al EXCEPT New England.
Brett Farve said he begged the Packers to offer the Raiders a 2nd rounder for Moss and they refused. why? do you know what he’d do for the Packers? Well, Al traded Moss to the Patriots and they went to the Super Bowl.
The Raiders have traded some of the best WRs’ in NFL history since then. Its’ just hard to understand Raidernation! they listen to everything the NFL says but then claim the league doesn’t like them.
Seeing the Adams situation its’ not hard to see the NFL/ owners up to the same thing. NYJs’ get a huge discount/ deal from the lowly/ dysfunctional Raiders and get an elite WR. the Raiders get a 3rd or 4th pick and are in rebuilding mode.