For anyone hoping Davante Adams will stay with the Raiders, head coach Antonio Pierce injected a little hope into the chances that might happen during Wednesday afternoon’s press conference.
“He’s still a Raider. He’s never not been a Raider,” Pierce told members of the media in reference to Adams on Wednesday.
“When he’s healthy and he can play, we’ll play him,” Pierce continued. “He’s just not healthy right now and he’s getting closer, though. That’s the good part. He’s working every day to get that hamstring right. He’s in the right head space mentally. We talked recently, had a good conversation, and he’s ready to play football.”
Based on Pierce’s comments, there seems to have been some kind of positive discussion between Adams and the team, but what does that mean going forward?
Is there a chance Adams will abandon his trade request and play out the season with the Raiders?
Two beat writers covering the team talked about the possibility this week, and both shared a similar message.
Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said he has received emails asking if there was a chance the relationship between Adams and the Raiders could be repaired, and his response didn’t leave a lot of room for interpretation.
No,” Carpenter said emphatically on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“We’ve known this was coming for a long time,” he told co-host Zeke Trezevant. “So we’re going to be writing a deep dive article when it’s done, and I think people will understand our comments a little bit more at that time.”
Another voice on the Adams situation this week has been the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore.
According to Bonsignore, there is very much a mutual feeling between Adams and the organization right now.
“One thing [some] are underestimating is that the Raiders want to move on from Davante Adams just as much as Davante Adams wants to move on from the Raiders. I don’t see a scenario where he comes back,” Bonsignore said this week on Raider Nation Radio’s The Morning Tailgate.
That’s a strong statement from Bonsignore and it, seemingly, puts to rest any ideas of the Raiders and Adams salvaging the relationship in the second half of the season.
For now, it feels like the Raiders are in a holding pattern with Adams as they wait for someone to become desperate and agree to better compensation for the All-Pro wide receiver.
x: @raidersbeat
Looks like maybe there wasn’t much trade value for Adams, so probably best that the team keeps him instead of just giving him away. Next season his contract will be more favorable for a trade. Smart for the team to be patient about this.
He won’t make into next year as his contract goes way up not down. This was always a 3 year deal. McZiggy messed it up from the start. A 1 and 2 was entirely too much to give up for him. Only giving him a 3 yr deal (again the final 2 years were inflated to make it look better). I was surprised that DA didn’t request a trade b4 last season. Noodle arm Jimmy, and Noodle arm Minshew can’t stretch the field. DA, Jacobi, Bowers. Mayer all are the same short route runners. Tucker is wasted for lack of accuracy on deep shots due to lack of arm strength. It also doesn’t help that we can’t run. I put most of the blame on Telesco. Destroyed team by not resigning some key people and his replacements have been worse. AP deserves plenty of blame as well. He acts like a teenager with his comments and actions. It would be best for the team to Hire B.Johnson as HC/OC with Salah as DC.
Adams and Antonio need to sit down together without media and anyone else, unrecorded. Man to Man! And end the rumors and the back and forth and then announce publicly whether he’s staying or not and be done with it.
Let him go and get well compensated.
Only in the Raider front office / ownership/ HC circle is this not turning into decent draft picks. Julio Jones got a 2 & 4 a couple years back, Diggs this past year as well got decent return. There are multiple teams that are in right now but they all know the Raiders will blow the leverage they have. Telesco isn’t a good GM. He could’ve got more during the draft but he fooled himself into thinking if I hire a gardner everything will be ok. Also, tell Hondo to shut up. No one believes anything he “reports” as he demonstrated during the end of the McZiggy administration that he just doesn’t know anything and he makes it up.