Davante Adams has requested a trade from the Raiders and a lot has been made about the fact that he doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract.
Two years ago, it was Derek Carr who leaned on the no-trade clause in his contract and forced the Raiders to cut him, getting nothing in return.
The departure of Carr, and the fact that the Raiders were unable to trade him, ended up being one of the biggest personnel blunders of the Josh McDaniels era in Las Vegas.
Adams doesn’t have the same type of leverage as Carr, but has nearly as much control over his destination as Carr did in 2022.
Adams’ salary is so big under his current deal, particularly next year, that anyone interested in trading for him would be irresponsible to not agree to a restructure ahead of the trade being finalized.
No one will be offering a high draft pick to the Raiders for a player on a half-year rental, and no one wants to entertain the cap numbers that come with Adams’ contract over the next two years.
With that in mind, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero probably explained it best…
”When you have the need, quite possibly, to restructure a contract to facilitate a trade, that effectively gives a player veto power,” Pelissero said this week on the Rich Eisen Show.
Adams has been smiling for the cameras and playing nice in the public arena, but he has all the leverage he needs to dictate to the Raiders where he will play next year.
Furthermore, if Adams can choose his next team, he has the option of essentially eliminating the trade competition and can effectively drop his trade value as a favor to his new team.
It would be unfortunate for the Raiders if it played out that way, but it’s one of the “business decisions” Adams could consider.
The nuclear option for the Raiders if Adams overplays his hand would be to refuse to trade him and force him to play out the season in Las Vegas, possibly on injured reserve.
That’s a result that wouldn’t make anyone happy, and ideally the sides can work together and come up with a trade scenario that makes everyone happy.
x: @raidersbeat