Everything Raiders WR Davante Adams Said Today
The Las Vegas Raiders invade the Mile High City with a potent offense and an improved defense to take on their AFC West rival, the Denver Broncos.
Superstar wide receiver Davante Adams spoke today about the game and the state of the franchise, and we have everything he said for you.
You can watch the entire press conference below and read the transcript:
Wide Receiver Davante Adams
Q: Does it ever get old? Season opener, do you still get the butterflies at all or are you past all that?
Adams: "No, I mean you still get that feeling. It's a little different when you're a little bit more familiar with it. It turns from nerves to just excitement. So, definitely still get it, but it kind of fades as far as the anxiety of the whole deal. But we're definitely ready to get to work."
Q: How excited are you to see what this looks like with the new personnel around, especially at quarterback?
Adams: "Yeah man, I'm real excited. I mean, we've been working hard at it for a minute now, been together since OTAs, and been grinding to get it going in the right direction. So, it'll be fun to see once we get some stuff on tape, what it looks like, that way we can make corrections and keep improving."
Q: Any adjustments you've had to make to your game in the offseason with a new quarterback?
Adams: "No, same thing. Just getting adjusted to a new person throwing it. But as far as my game, no."
Q: Are there still little match-up things that excite you? The Broncos have a lot of hype on their corners. Is that something you get excited about?
Adams: "No, I honestly don't care who I play against. I go out there, I don't discriminate. I treat everybody the same way when we go out there. It's not like a disrespectful thing, but I'm more concerned about what we're doing as a football team and what I'm doing personally over what the defense has to offer."
Q: You're on year two of this coaching staff; how do you feel like they've done in terms of kind of connecting with players and forming relationships?
Adams: "Good. We got some personal coaches. Definitely some guys that are interested in learning about the person, which is a vital piece of connecting and doing well as a team is understanding the people who you're working with. So, we've got some guys who preach communication and just openness and kind of not going into anything with any surprises but, like I said, open communication and I appreciate that from them."
Q: You're somebody who is vocal when you have something in terms of feedback to give whether it's football related or something else. Have you seen some of the feedback you've been giving acted upon by the coaching staff?
Adams: "I mean countless times. Last year throughout games, we talk. I come back -- it's not even something that they want to listen to, they say: 'Hey, we need to hear that from you. Anything you feel out there.' Obviously there's a scale as far as how much they trust certain people coming in with certain things. If you're a rookie, you can't walk in here and say" 'Hey coach, I need to run this on that guy or whatever.' 'We don't need to be in man on defense, like do this.' It comes with the reps and respect of understanding and obviously knowing that the guy knows what he's talking about. So, it's a two-way street, and I try not to come in with too much stuff that way. The person who is talking all the time, nobody really wants to hear him the same way. So, I try to be selective about the times I bring things to them, but they do a good job of applying it when it's time."
Q: You're obviously one of the leaders of this team, a captain in your second year. There was a situation that occurred yesterday with Chandler Jones. How do you make sure that that doesn't affect anybody in that locker room?
Adams: "Everybody's got to focus on what we've got to focus on. The only thing that's important this week is this game. So, you've got to lock in on that."
Q: This offseason you spoke publicly about talking to Josh Jacobs and kind of being there for him. You know how much of a difference have you noticed with him being back in the locker room for just over a week?
Adams: "I mean, I've noticed it in my mood, other guys' moods. Just having a key piece of your football team around, it's going to naturally boost everybody's mood, their willingness to come to work. Everybody's been coming to work and it's been the same as it was last year, but it's a little bit more fire when you get one of your guys back and get a guy like Josh back who is a captain, a leader of this football team. It kind of, like I said, gives the team a little extra juice."
Q: There are some young guys on this offense, Tre Tucker, Michael Mayer. Do you take them under your wing a little bit, especially in a week like this to kind of settle those nerves so that they're ready to perform?
Adams: "No, they're on their own. I was on my own, they're on their own (laughter). No, of course. I mean, these guys, these are easy guy to work with. Tre [Tucker] is one of my favorite rookies I've ever had. Obviously, he's a crazy talent out there. He's got speed and a lot of things that are tough to coach, but just him as a person makes it easy coming to work with him. He's the type of guy, he told me about a month ago, he said: 'I'm going to ask you at least one question every single day and learn something from you whether it's football, something about life, whatever. I'm going to make sure I ask you something every day,' and he's been on it. There's been a couple of days where he hasn't, but I watched it, the first four days he came up to me with something every day. So, working with guys like that -- and obviously I haven't been working directly with Michael [Mayer] the same. He's a quiet guy as well, but you can tell -- I'll be having a conversation with Hoop [Austin Hooper] about something and he'll kind of creep over there and start listening a little bit. So, these guys are willing to learn and fun to work with, so it makes it easy."
Q: What kind of questions does Tre Tucker as you?
Adams: "All different types of things. That type stuff we'll keep between me and Tre [Tucker], but it can be something about a route, something about life, how do I deal with coming in and balancing a new playbook and adding your own sauce to routes and just different things. It's been a million different times we've talked about stuff. He's a quiet kid, but one on one in those type of situations, that's where you see him start to kind of -- I don't know what the word is -- not unfold but you know what I mean, open up a little bit I guess. Open up and get a little bit more comfortable talking and continue to learn with us."
Q: Do you notice like a progression in his questions, like: 'Oh he's starting to get it?'
Adams: "I mean, he's asked amazing questions out the gate, so it's really just a wide range. It's not always a question that I'll get that's like: 'Wow, amazing question,' but sometimes it's just like a real question. Like I said, it's a pretty wide range."
Q: You mentioned that he had crazy talent. As you get further along in your career, can you start sensing that and seeing that from younger players like they got a little something special?
Adams: "I mean you can see at any point no matter where you're at in your development. It's easy to see when a guy gets it and is very mature. Obviously, there are hundreds of things to work on. I mean, I've got a lot to work on still. So, there's obviously things you can build on, but the type of questions that he asks, the detail that he has, the way he studies and the way he goes about it. He's not a big talker, he's like an old school rookie the way you want them. So, like I said, when they're that way, it makes everything a lot more smooth and easier in the room."
Q: Along those lines I talked with Nate Hobbs and he said that you make him a better cornerback. You taught him patience and route running. Do take pride in that as well, even helping out defensive players to try to help them better their game?
Adams: "For sure, I take just as much pride in helping Nate [Hobbs] as I do any of the other receivers. I mean, we're all one unit. We're doing this in camp all the time, but at the end of the day I want him to be able to cover the things that he's going to see on every Sunday. So when we have an opportunity -- and obviously I'm going to have more creativity to certain things, and I assure him sometimes if I come back with a win on a route like: 'You're not going to see anybody run it that way. So you'll be good covering it the cookie cutter way. I want to make sure I give you a little extra something to see that way on Sundays it's easier.' He's the same way as Tre [Tucker] and those other young guys where he's always asking questions and locked in if I'm talking to somebody else trying to figure out what it is that he can do to make himself better too. If everybody is on that, we will be a good team."
The Silver and Black open the regular season at the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 4:25 p.m. EDT/1:25 p.m. PDT.
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