Davante Adams Talks from Las Vegas Raiders Training Camp

Davante Adams was the prime free agent of the NFL offseason, and having spurned the Green Bay Packers for the Las Vegas Raiders, he is excited to be in camp.

HENDERSON, Nev.-There was no bigger free agent prize in the National Football League this offseason than Davante Adams.  Spurning the Green Bay Packers to reunite with Derek Carr of the Las Vegas Raiders was the coup off the offseason.

He spoke after practice at training camp, and you can watch the entire video below or read the transcript:'

Wide Receiver Davante Adams

Q: How has the transition with coming to a new team and new city been going?

Adams: “It’s been smooth. It’s obviously different any time you change places, but I’ve been enjoying it. It’s been really cool. Teammates welcomed me with open arms right out the gate. Obviously, a lot of familiar faces too. We got some old coaches that I was around, Mo [Drayton], Tyler Lancaster, Kyler Fackrell, a couple guys that I knew already, and obviously Derek [Carr] too. So, got a warm welcome from the guys and the coaches have been great too. It’s been great.”

Q: How comfortable are you feeling in terms of the offense?

Adams: “I mean, we got a long way to go, man. I'm feeling really comfortable as of now. About as comfortable as you can be at this point, but we still got a lot to learn, a lot to work on and just trying to build and build off what we kind of did in in the spring.”

Q: Your teammates have said how impressed they’ve been with how hard you work. With being such an accomplished player and having the big contract, what kind of keeps you motivated to have that same level of work ethic?

Adams: “I mean, just thinking about the bigger picture. Just chasing a better me and obviously trying to be there and be the best teammate that I can to help this team win as many games as possible. That's been my mentality. I've never been the type of guy to be complacent or be content in the spot that I'm at. I always feel like I can get better, and I know I can get better. So, that's always been my mentality.”

Q: Was the heat bad out there at practice today?

Adams: “Yeah, it’s hot. It’s hot, but honestly, I'll take a day like today over. It was dry, like the air was really dry. I mean, you run a couple of routes and you need water like every other every time you come out. Obviously is a little different being here in Vegas, but it's a very familiar feeling from what I had. I kind of kept a little bit of that with me from college. Just power through it like everybody else.”

Q: When you see Darren Waller line up next to you, what do you think?

Adams: “I mean, a guy like that motivates me every time he hits the field. You see what he's accomplished. Just what he's capable of and all of that, it pushes you. You can't be on the outside, especially as a receiver as fast as that dude is, it makes you feel like you got to run as hard as you can on every route that you got out there. So, whether it's freeing him up or he's freeing me up to be able to get the ball as well. We kind of all feed off of each other and same with Hunter [Renfrow], D Rob [Demarcus Robinson] and the rest of the guys. We got a lot of guys that got a lot of talent. So, I'm out here just trying to make sure I'm here for my brothers.”

Q: What have you seen from Tyron Johnson so far in camp?

Adams: “He’s a workhorse man. He's been running a lot of deep routes and he's not complaining about it. He's doing everything he can to try to establish himself in this offense and show the coaches what he can do. I know he's already proved a lot to me. He's my locker mate and he gave up 17 (jersey number) for me. So, I try to do everything I can for him. Like I said, it’s a lot of good guys. You got T-Billy (Tyron Johnson) out there. You got 19 (Jordan Veasy), he had a great day today. Just really enjoy going out there with DJ [Turner]. [Dillon] Stoner as well. Obviously, he’s got something going on and they kind of got him out right now. It's been a pleasure working with these guys. It’s a really good room.”

Q: It seems like the wide receiver has a little bit of everything and that all bases are covered. How important is that from a position standpoint?

Adams: “I mean, it’s huge. You got to be kind of well-versed as a wideout group. You can't just have a bunch of speed or a bunch of size. You kind of got to be able to hit all the bases and a lot of guys that understand that position as well, too. It's not just about the skill set, but the mental part of the game is something that is really tough to teach from a coach or even a player that's been doing it for a while. So, coming in and seeing that, that's really impressive especially considering the age of a lot of these guys. It’s a really young room. So, having guys that understand how to set people up and how to find zones and understanding why it’s important to have an outside release on this, or why it's important to do this on the inside. It makes it a lot easier for me as a vet coming in trying to teach guys especially when I still got a lot to learn. So, yeah, it’s been fun.”

Q: Is that an ever-evolving situation even for yourself to learn the nuances of the position?

Adams: “Absolutely. Like I said before, it’s something you can always be better at, and I like to think that one of my best attributes is my mental approach and my understanding of the game of football especially obviously at my position. So, anytime you have a bunch of guys that also understand what they're doing it just makes it that much easier on the coaches and the quarterback.”

Q: What’s been enticing to you in learning the new offensive system?

Adams: “Well, just the fact that everybody's a threat out there. Obviously, pretty much every pass you have a number one read or whatever, but you can get the ball from anywhere. You can be a guy that’s setting up another guy, but the coverage can dictate that you get the ball. So, it kind of keeps guys minds and keeps you alive within every route. I've been a part of, whether it was college or early in my career or whatever it may be, where you know you got to dummy route as they say. But there's really no dummy routes in this offense and the whole coaching staff, they got a brilliant football mind. It keeps every guy alive in the offense, but you know you can get it and there's so many different things that kind of marry up and keep the defense honest and makes it pretty tough for the defense to know what's coming.”

Q: There was some rumors about Fresno Stat maybe going to the Pac-12. Any thoughts on that?

Adams: “I didn’t know anything about that. I mean, that'd be cool. I think Fresno State has earned the right to and I think things like that can help with recruiting as well. So, I think it'd be cool. I think definitely they got the personnel for it. And definitely the coaching staff. I love those guys over there. So, hopefully. I wish the best from them.”

Q: Earlier today, Josh McDaniels said there's only so much he can really evaluate from a coaching perspective when you guys are in shells and there’s no pads on yet. From a player’s perspective, what are you guys actually able to accomplish this early in camp?

Adams: “I think that’s like more so interior stuff through my eyes. Obviously, through his eyes, I mean he's a better judge of that. But I'd say you can kind of evaluate pretty good based off of how a guy runs routes, the way he attacks the ball, the way he catches the ball. There's a bunch of little different nuances that you can see without even putting pads on it all in practice. These guys are doing a lot to prove themselves now, same with myself. I still got a lot to prove. I mean, I don't think anybody has a lot to prove. At the end of the day, you just go out and do your thing and be who you are. Obviously trying to earn a spot on the team, guys have some stuff to prove. But being seen a lot of stuff since I’ve been here just based off the little details within routes and stuff, specifically within my position that I think you can kind of break down and see where guys are at.”

Q: How can I make it more difficult to prepare for this team when you have guys that can move around to multiple positions?

Adams: “Yeah, it makes it tough, man. I mean, we got great depth and that's that goes beyond myself, Hunter and Darren. I know that's the way people like to talk about it a lot, but you look anywhere, like if I need a blow and I got to pop out after a deep route, you can plug anybody in there. And the thing is, you can put Mack Hollins in to run a stock post. He's a bigger guy, but he can go down there and take the top off as well. I'd like to think that you can't really limit anybody to anything. So, obviously guys can move around, but if I need to go to the slot or whatever, dudes are learning concepts which allows you to be able to play anywhere and the skill set matches that.”

Q: There's a lot of social media reaction to you calling Derek Carr a Hall of Famer…

Adams: “Let me say this, just so this can be everywhere as well. Being a rapper, you got to have the bars. Obviously, you know you got to have the bars. The lines got to be there. But a very, very vital and critical piece of being a rapper is the delivery, right? I wasn't a great rapper the other day. What I'm not going to do is take away from that statement because why is Derek not a Hall of Famer? But what I meant, I left one key word 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? People can say that about this guy or that guy. But what I would say is, 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 if even you go Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer, it's an adjustment. I mean, like even if it is Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer, there's going to be an adjustment. I wasn't saying Hall of Famer Aaron [Rodgers] to Hall of Famer Derek. So, I'm not retracting my statement at all. Honestly, you look at the numbers that he's had and what he's had to work with and the adversity that he's had in Oakland and coming to Vegas and the type of stuff that's been going on here in the past, which hopefully we're putting all that stuff to bed, but I didn't deliver that message the way that I had in my head. So later when I saw it written out it kind of made my stomach drop a little bit because I was like, ‘Oh Gog, here we go, man. I can't wait for people to blow this up.’ They take everything I say and we the only team in camp right now. But like I said, what I'm not going to do is say Derek is not going to be a Hall of Famer because at the end of day I believe…and this is not putting any expectations or any added pressure on him because he puts all that type of pressure on himself because of what he expects every time he touches the field. 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. Anytime you change quarterbacks is what I was getting at. So, take that and run with it, do whatever you got to do.”

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