Davante Adams Sounds Like A Man Who Knows The Raiders Are Pretty Much Doomed For At Least The 2023 Season
Kevin Sabitus. Getty Images.Jerry blogged about Davante Adams several days ago and, turns out, accurately read the tea leaves on the Raiders star's thoughts on Las Vegas replacing Derek Carr with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback.
Why do I say "accurately read the tea leaves" with such certainty? Well, because Davante went ON THE RECORD to express his disagreement over the decision! That's right. In a lengthy feature by The Ringer's Mirin Fader, that was one of the multiple revelations to take away from the piece. It kinda flew under the radar (er, mine at least) a bit I assume because of its TLDR layout.
It's not that Davante said Jimmy G is a piece of shit…but it's imprecise to say he wholeheartedly endorsed the Josh McDaniels-Dave Ziegler tandem bonering up at the thought of reuniting with their old New England pal.
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"[Jimmy's] a really cool dude, talking to him. I really haven't been around him enough to truly know what type of leader he is…I've only heard good things from his teammates, though, so that's a good thing, because it's guys that I know wouldn’t mess around with stuff like that. […] [The front office] think this is the best bet for us right now to put us in a position to be urgent. We don’t see eye-to-eye on what we think is best for us right now."
Rough translation: Jimmy seems like a good hang and all but uhh…in terms of maximizing our chances to win in 2023? Yeah. He ain't it.
And apparently Davante hasn't been shy about expressing that to the team. Not even trying to hide a certain sense of disappointment about it all, either.
"I’m going to have to buy into this and try to be as optimistic as possible. It's not what I expected to happen, but it’s something that's the reality now."
Does that not sound like a guy who knows he's on a sinking ship!? LOL. It's hard enough to compete in the AFC West alone with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the division, not to mention Justin Herbert leading the Chargers. Mahomes and Herbert are miles better than Garoppolo, which can't make Davante feel good. Sean Payton now coaches the Broncos, too, so they won't be as easy of an out if Payton can squeeze anything else out of Russell Wilson.
Now to be fair, Davante posted a picture with Ziegler, calling him "the man" after this report dropped.
Getting more diplomatic vibes from that than anything else. I'm not sure Ziegler is necessarily the guy with which Adams has the biggest bone to pick, either. There's no way McDaniels doesn't have his fingerprints all over every single roster move, if not final say.
You knew Las Vegas' McDaniels-Ziegler braintrust didn't look at a single other fucking quarterback on the entire market beyond Jimmy G. Most predictable move ever to sign the low-ceiling, savvy vet who can distribute WITHIN THE CONFINES OF JOSH MCDANIELS' GENIUS SYSTEM to win multiple Super Bowls in the next few years.
Or so that's how McDaniels still thinks. I'm sure of it. This whole notion that he's "evolved" and changed into a completely different person in his second go-round as a head coach? Yeah, my ass. Look at what else Davante has to say regarding Jimmy's fit in the Raiders' offense:
"It all depends on the style of ball that we play. If we play a certain brand of ball, I can get [Garoppolo] to conform to whatever. But if we use him a certain type of way, then it’s going to make it tough for us to maximize who we should be this year."
!!!!!!!!
That's not even a thinly-veiled shot at McDaniels. Right? Davante is basically saying that the system McDaniels used in New England that he stubbornly refuses to stray from to best suit his players' strengths will not work with Jimmy G. You know, a QB who began his career for years in said system. That statement implies that making Derek Carr learn a whole new football language in 2022 with zero carryover from what he had the most success with before might not have been the best approach!
Now here's the thing: The Ringer also says Davante has been looped into personnel discussions…but it seems like they don't really listen to him. Davante vows to continue busting his ass and says the move to Vegas has been good to be closer to family for his mental well-being. As for the football part of his journey from Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay to this? Yikes. Not looking great. Doesn't help that the Raiders, in my opinion, didn't do enough to upgrade their defense this offseason.
Like yeah, Davante will be monomaniacally focused on his craft and try to achieve first-team All-Pro honors for a fourth straight time. That's what drove him last year when shit was hitting the fan amid a losing season — proving he could thrive sans Rodgers.
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Would be an easier task for Adams to emulate that exceptional 2022 campaign with a better passer throwing him the ball. As someone who's defended Derek Carr in a hardcore sort of way in the past to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pageviews, you won't catch me saying he was an elite AFC quarterback. That's rarefied air.
I'll play you out with a list of my AFC QB rankings until I hit Jimmy G, which should give you an idea as to why Davante isn't over the moon about what lies ahead for the Raiders in 2023. After all, there's a reason — well, several — Jimmy G has an out in his contract after this season.
AFC QB rankings
1. Patrick Mahomes
2. Joe Burrow
3. Josh Allen
4. Lamar Jackson
5. Aaron Rodgers
6. Justin Herbert
7. Trevor Lawrence
8. Tua Tagovailoa
9. (Being generous) Jimmy Garoppolo
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok