Inside the Raiders–Davante Adams Divorce

Las Vegas did everything in its power to make the former All-Pro receiver happy. But in the end, the Silver & Black could no longer make the relationship work.

Las Vegas Raiders WR Davante Adams / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

The divorce between the Las Vegas Raiders and their superstar WR Davante Adams didn’t happen suddenly. The seeds of unrest had been germinating for months.

In our latest deep-dive into the Silver & Black, we take you back to when we first saw it coming and how it unfolded.

• The initial signs came early in the relationship—Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, after the Raiders had fallen to 0–3.
• Adams had five receptions for 36 yards and one touchdown. He felt that his friend Derek Carr was not doing a good enough job getting him the ball, according to a team source, who told us that day, “Not a good look to be complaining about the guy you wanted to play with.  Wish he would keep that between the two of them.”
• That day, we knew, at least in the eyes of our source, that there was concern about Adams. While not yet alarming, it was a warning sign.
• The same source reiterated concerns after a Thursday night loss on Dec. 8, 2022. Yet, again, Adams questioned his quarterback after a performance in which he had only three receptions.
• One team source told us, “Derek isn’t perfect, but that is your guy. Don’t talk about him behind his back; be his friend when he is around. People see that s--t.”
• Our source added, “Derek sees things in a simple way. He isn’t Tom Brady, but he is quick to take the blame, even when it isn’t him, and I feel bad for Derek when Tae [Adams] is never to blame. I don’t know anybody who thinks DC [Carr] is a Tom Brady, but you don’t see us disrespecting him, either.”
• On the plane trip home after a Week 16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Raiders were in the process of deciding whether to bench Carr.
• A team source tipped us off to that decision, so we asked about the non-public decision to bench the signal-caller at Josh McDaniels’s press conference that Monday.
• When we asked our source if there was concern about Adams since he had made it clear that he came to Las Vegas to play with Derek, “He was talked to while making this decision, and he wants to stay if we can get him, someone, he is confident in, to get him the ball. It was really about him and not much about Derek, if at all.”
• Later that week, we asked Adams a question that went viral at his regularly scheduled press conference: If the Raiders got you a quarterback, would you want to come back and be a Raider again next year? His answer? “Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, like I said, I wouldn’t have been here, or ended up here originally if Derek wasn’t here. But, it doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t be here, in the event that he is not here.  That’s my boy, obviously, I got his back through everything, and I think I’ve made it more than clear at this time, and I support him, and I support everything that he has moving forward. But, my dream was to play for this team before he was a Raider, obviously, and at this point, I want to try to make this thing work, and continue on doing what I am doing here. Myself get better, and obviously see the team grow and get better as well.” Privately and publicly, Adams carefully and meticulously chose his words and messaging he wanted to convey to his teammates and front office. After doing so, he’d use the media to convey the message. He then acted as if he had no idea why the media frenzy surrounding his words was happening. 

It happened last season when he complained to the media about not getting enough targets. Wide receiver Jakobi Meyers got off to a hot start and threatened Adams’s place as the team’s No. 1 receiver. Adams’s frustration was not directly aimed at Meyers, but his frustrations were due to Meyers’s growing success. Adams commanded double teams, leaving Meyers in favorable situations. Either way, his public comments became a distraction, and the Raiders began force-feeding Adams with mixed results. 

As one team source said, “Who complains after a win?  O.K., we get it. You want the ball more, but it’s not always about you.”  

Another said, “Kobe (Jakobi Meyers) is pretty f---ing good, let him eat. If Tyree [Wilson] or Malcolm [Koonce] gets a big sack, Maxx [Crosby] would be the first guy celebrating. That is why this is Maxx’s team and ain’t ever gonna be Tae’s.”

Still, Adams finished with 337 more yards than Meyers on the season, even though he played one more game and received 70 more targets than Meyers. 

The team did what it had to do to keep its star receiver happy last season, but it was not enough. The additional targets did not lead to improved play by the offense or more wins for the team. 

Adams spoke loudly in supporting Antonio Pierce’s selection as head coach, which is why his offseason actions once again didn’t match his words.

A team source said of Adams, “I think he thought because of who he was, and maybe felt some type of way about speaking up for AP that he would have a bigger voice in adding players. Maybe like Aaron Rodgers’s role in New York, but that wasn’t happening.”

After the Raiders struggled offensively last season, they immediately hunted for a competent offensive coordinator. After initially having an interest in Kliff Kingsbury, the Raiders settled on Luke Getsy, which may have been a rushed decision.

A team source told us that Adams had been a strong voice for Getsy, saying, “Getsy was Tae’s guy.”

So we asked Adams about it shortly after Getsy joined the franchise.

Adams, who had previously played with Getsy in Green Bay, raved about the hire.  

• 
  
• “I was really excited. That was a good feeling, knowing that a guy that I’ve worked with, I know how he works, I know how his mind works and we’ve had success together. So, it’s definitely exciting.”
• He went on to add to what Getsy would bring to the Raiders, “Innovation, the type of coach that is going to be open to hearing things from the veteran players that know how this thing works. The best way to do things. A lot of different things, just the open-mindedness, like I said the innovation to the offense, a good run-pass balance. That’s what I am used to. That West Coast style, and it will be fun getting to work on new system, something I am used to, and more familiar for me, and the guys.”    
• However, once OTAs (Organized Team Activities) began in the spring, many in the organization felt that Adams’s actions didn’t speak as loudly as his words.
• Pierce had preached all offseason about the need to return to an “old-school Raiders mentality”—not just playing football but attacking it.
• One player said of AP’s offseason mantra, “It was always preaching a fast start,” but the message either didn’t resonate with Adams, or he didn’t feel it involved him.”
• When Adams failed to show up for voluntary OTA’s, the pot began to boil over into frustration.
• While the team was at work, Adams posted a video of him washing his car on social media. One team source told us, “I guess his comments to you at the Super Bowl [referenced above] of this is going to be fun getting to work was just Tae talk.”
• Adams’ actions spoke loudly to his teammates, many of whom simply began to “move on mentally” from him.
• The Raiders organization, however, saw it differently.  While some saw it for what it was, others thought the talented WR was simply a “diva” by nature.
• One team source told us, “Tae is like that one person in the relationship who wants it over but also wants to paint the picture of being the victim.  So they continue to act bad for the other to move on, so they can get the sympathy.”
• The team bought into and loved Pierce. They are protective of him, and anything that could be perceived against him is not well received.  
• Once Adams’s Netflix WR show came out, “Receiver,” it hit the team like a nuclear bomb.

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  ESPN reported: Adams’s declaration that he “signed off” on the midseason switch from Garoppolo to Aidan O’Connell on “Receiver” raised eyebrows among staffers and in the locker room. Not so much because he said and did those things, but because Adams, as a willing participant on the show with some creative control, allowed them to air. A source with direct knowledge of the situation said there was more critical footage of Adams venting about the team that Adams had to be talked out of allowing to air.
  

•  When Pierce was asked about the Netflix show in training camp, he admitted to watching pieces of it.
• While not verbose, Pierce said of the show, “You can’t erase it.” His feelings were crystal clear.
• Like Crosby, Pierce is all football, all Raiders, all team. One team source said, “You don’t mention erasing something you like.”
• After Adams was gone from the team for an extended time in this training camp awaiting his son’s birth, frustration mounted.
• As the team was working in Costa Mesa, Calif., Adams was absent.
• He had missed OTAs and now a large part of training camp.  
• As one team source said, “You can’t complain about not getting balls when you ain’t here to get them, or when you are here, you are dropping them. We’ll see how he takes the team voting for captains.”
• All of that led to what many felt was the nail in the relationship’s coffin.
• Pierce, after his edict of a fast start, informed the team that all players would play in the preseason if healthy.
• Spirited, Pierce had spoken to the team about the Raiders’ legacy of toughness and that he wanted to start fast.
• The team warmly embraced their new coach’s command and were excited to play except for Adams.
• On Aug. 14, Pierce interacted with the media after Adams had made it clear he didn’t want to play in the team’s final preseason game.
• He was asked the question: “You said starters will play this week. Davante Adams last night said he’d choose not too if it was up to him. Will there be a conversation, or do you think that he’s kind of at the point in his career where it’s up to him? Pierce: “No, if you’re healthy, you’ll play.” 
• Pierce had drawn the line in the sand.
• That led to one team source telling us, “I am sure Adams will have a hammy issue so he doesn’t have to play. If he doesn’t, I don’t see how that can do anything other than hurt this team. It will be such a disrespect of AP, he will be done. Until he’s gone, that will not be good in this locker room.”
• That brought us to August 17.  We were aware of the situation.  While we considered reporting the problem, we decided it wouldn’t lessen the story if we waited for the article you are reading.  While we sat the story, we knew that the situation would come to a head, and reporting later rather than sooner wouldn’t diminish the story.
• After much discussion, we decided to Tweet on X:  “Bookmark this Tweet. It’s a big night for the Franchise and the Season.”

Bookmark this Tweet. Big night for the Franchise and the Season.

— Hondo Carpenter (@HondoCarpenter) August 18, 2024

• Adams didn’t play.
• Several key Raiders players played well into the second half of the final preseason game, something that isn’t commonplace. Were some players sending a message? When one key Raider was asked, his answer was a big smile and, “No comment.”
• When rumors again began to fly that Adams wanted out, he again tried to use the media to steer the message.  
• He said this on Sept. 4, responding to DeSean Jackson implying that Adams wanted out of Las Vegas: “I’ve probably spoken to DeSean Jackson maybe three or four times in my life, and I never had a conversation with him ever, and I put that on my kids. I’ve never spoken to him about anything. Only person I really talk to about my feelings in general is my wife probably, and she ain’t out there leaking anything and dropping stuff like that in the media. So, once again, whatever you see, if it ain’t from the horse’s mouth, it’s probably bullshit.” 
• On Sept. 6, I was told by a source that the Adams camp was very frustrated that the Raiders hadn’t moved on.
• The source told me, “They thought [Tom] Telesco and Mark [Davis] would have had enough by now. They may get a little more aggressive here pretty soon, trying to force this (a trade).
• I spoke to Adams personally about all the rumors. I asked him if I could report in the future that any rumors began to be floated, that they were lies, and that anyone saying it was a liar. I reported that he said that he was 100% committed to the Raiders, and if that changed, he would report it on social media or inform the media directly. Adams told me, “We probably shouldn’t do that. I would just hope that they die. I am tired of talking about it.” I informed him a statement like I had just proposed to him would silence those rumors immediately. He told me, “We probably shouldn’t.”
• Enough said.
• When Adams asked to go to Pierce’s office to meet with him after the win over the Cleveland Browns, Pierce was expecting a rejuvenated Adams, according to a team source. That was not what he got. Instead, Pierce got the news that Adams’s teammates already felt: He wanted out.
• Adams’s request shocked many in the organization. Despite all the rumors, he had verbally supported wanting to stay with the Raiders. It was a surprise to ask during the season.
• Despite the spin others attempted to put on the situation, it had nothing to do with Pierce allegedly liking a social media post. This happened before then.
• Adams wanted out. The Raiders obliged, but rumors of Adams wanting to reunite with Carr gave many a good laugh.

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