Adams epitomizes offseason approach for the Raiders
Davante Adams arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday and met the media. Just as Randy Moss did in Alameda in 2005 with a police escort. Or Antonio Brown in 2019.
We've seen this before with the Raiders and it has ended in disaster.
This time it looks much different, feels different, and not just because they're in a shiny new facility in Las Vegas that Adams called “futuristic.”
It's as if the Raiders actually know what they're doing. They're executing a plan, rather than impulsively reaching for what may or may not be there. The whole offseason feels that way.
Not coincidentally, it was precisely the tone Adams struck in terms of his approach and progress.
“I'm in the business of maximizing everything I do,” Adams said. “It's important for me to leave my footprint doing everything I can to allow this team to win a lot of games.”
Without rehashing the details, the trades for Moss and Brown were spectacular miscalculations on seemingly decent deals for Hall of Fame receivers in their prime.
And here comes Adams, by any estimation one of the top three receivers in the NFL, as stable and consistent in terms of personality as Moss and Brown were temperamental and erratic.
Growing up in East Palo Alto, Adams said his third-grade photo was in a Charles Woodson jersey. That No. 24, as well as Brown's No. 81, were worn “until the numbers wore off.”
Some impressions on Adams' arrival and what it represents as the Raiders attempt to make headway in a brutally tough AFC West:
DEREK CARR HAS GOT JUICE >> Make no mistake, if Carr was headed out the door, Adams wouldn't be a Raider, although the two didn't necessarily put together a grand plan for a Fresno State reunion.
“The turning point was figuring out what was best for me and my family. It wasn't just teaming up with Derek,” Adams said. “We didn't scheme this all season.
You're not being a great teammate to your current organization if that's all you're worried about. He had to worry about getting the ball to Hunter (Renfrow) and Darren (Waller) and being a great teammate, and I had to do what I could to get to a Super Bowl.
“That didn't happen for either of us, but once got to the point it was real, we started entertaining it.”
Coach Josh McDaniels is tasked with building a scheme with a triumvirate of Adams, Waller and Hunter Renfrow to beef up Carr's bottom line in the red zone, which has long been an issue.
Adams and McDaniels spoke Tuesday about how he and Waller could be similar to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce in Kansas City before Hill was traded to Miami on Wednesday.
“Pick your poison and it will be anybody's day,” Adams said. “I'm a secure wide receiver. I know what I bring. I told Derek don't feel the pressure to force me the ball. Let's just go out and do this thing like we did before. We had a good resume in college together. This ain't college, but we've still got that connection.”
Reviled by a portion of the Oakland fan base, the irony is that Carr, a faith-based straight arrow from whom never is heard a discouraging word, had to go to Sin City to find peace and solitude.
Part of me wonders if Adams, besides getting paid, opted for Carr's stability rather than the drama that has increasingly become a part of what Aaron Rodgers has created in Green Bay.
Adams characterized it as more of a family thing, with the contract dollars as well as proximity to home playing into it as much or more than any dynamic with Carr or Rodgers.
“I would never take anything away from anything Green Bay gave me or Aaron gave me,” Adams said.
DAVE ZIEGLER HAS GOT GAME >> When you work in the front office for the New England Patriots, it's hard to know exactly where Bill Belichick stops and a personnel executive begins.
Since taking over for Mike Mayock as general manager, Dave Ziegler has orchestrated the best Raiders offseason in recent memory.
Ziegler stayed out of the funny money phase of free agency, where players who weren't wanted by their previous employers strike it rich. He spun a trade with Indianapolis that sent pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue for a starting corner in Rock Ya-Sin, and signed an even better pass rusher in Chandler Jones to a three-year contract worth $32 million guaranteed -- a sum not out of line with his production.
The trade for Adams cost the Raiders the No. 22 and No. 53 selections in the first two rounds of the draft, in essence dealing a pair of question marks for a sure thing that can help right now.
And while Adams' deal was first reported as five years, $140 million with a staggering average salary of $28 million, upon closer inspection it's closer to an average of $22.5 million over three years, with the back end referred to as “agent fueled puffery” by ProFootballTalk.com.
The Raiders extended edge rusher Maxx Crosby, are working to do the same with Carr and have been quietly adding to the roster with players Ziegler and McDaniels are familiar with in terms of track record. They're building their defensive personnel to the specifications of new coordinator Patrick Graham.
What Ziegler and McDaniels have built looks capable of big things, but Adams realizes what he's signed on for in the AFC West.
“This is the best division in football. It would be hard not to say it even if I was in Green Bay,” Adams said. “It's not going to be easy. I'm always looking for a challenge. The Chargers added a few more pieces. We're stacked over here. It's exciting to see what's ahead.”
MARK DAVIS HAS GOT MONEY >> This wasn't always the case in Oakland in terms of actual cash on hand. A number of Raiders alumni over the years are of the belief Khalil Mack was traded simply because Davis couldn't fund the guaranteed portion of the deal.
The Raiders have a season under their belt with Las Vegas season-ticket money and sponsorships galore. No more fighting for scraps and being second banana to the 49ers in terms of corporate interest.
Whatever you think of Davis, he helped devise a deal to get a stadium few thought would ever happen at a location that was once off limits to NFL teams because of gambling. Now the roll of the dice has been embraced because of the revenue stream.
It must have been tempting for Davis to reward what was left of the Jon Gruden regime as led by Rich Bisaccia with more time after an unlikely 10-win season. But Davis listened to people he trusted and came away believing 2021 was more of a fluke than something sustainable.
It looks like he's gotten a lot right so far, and Adams' arrival drove that point home.