Davante Adams Explains Derek Carr–Aaron Rodgers Comparison

The internet had a field day with Davante Adams’s comments from a recent CBS Sports interview where he compared Aaron Rodgers and his new quarterback Derek Carr and referred to Carr as a future Hall of Famer. But on Sunday he addressed those comments. 

“Any time you change quarterbacks from Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer, you go Stabler to Rich Gannon, it’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment,” Adams told CBS Sports. “Both are great players and great to be around.”

NFL fans took exception to the comparison between Rodgers, a four-time MVP and Super Bowl champion, and Carr, who is 0–1 in the postseason but has been named to three Pro Bowls. Not only did he clarify his comments, but Adams doubled down. 

“What I’m not going to do is take away from that statement because, why is Derek not a Hall of Famer?” Adams said Sunday, per ESPN. “What I meant, I left one keyword out of there because that’s not exactly what I meant. But I do think that Derek’s career is Hall of Fame-worthy, and why not? Does he have the MVPs right now? No. Has he won a Super Bowl? Not yet. That’s obviously what we’re chasing.

“But what I meant to say was, ‘Even if you go Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer, it’s an adjustment.’ I wasn’t saying, ‘Hall of Famer Aaron to Hall of Famer Derek.’ So, I’m not retracting my statement at all,” he continued.

The Packers traded Adams back in March for a massive haul and with his arrival comes high expectations for Carr and company—something the Raiders haven’t had for a long time. And the star wideout hasn’t wasted any time supporting his new signal-caller.

“When I saw [the original quote] written out, it kind of made my stomach drop a little bit because I was like, ‘Oh, god, here we go. People are going to blow this up and take everything I say, and we’re the only team in camp right now,’” Adams said, per ESPN.

“But what I’m not going to do is say Derek is not going to be a Hall of Famer because at the end of the day I believe—and this is not putting any expectations or any added pressure on him because he puts that type of pressure on himself because of what he expects every time he touches the field,” Adams continued. “But yeah, I did not mean to say exactly that. I’m going to reiterate—even if you go from Hall of Famer to even another Hall of Famer, it’s going to be an adjustment. Any time you change quarterbacks is what I was getting at. So, take that and run with it and do whatever you want to do with it.”

• Raider Maven: Derek Carr Talks Las Vegas Raiders from Training Camp 

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