The Davante Adams era in Las Vegas has come to an end.
Adams was traded to the New York Jets; where he’ll reunite with Aaron Rodgers, who he played with when the two were members of the Green Bay Packers.
According to Pro Football Talk, Raiders owner Mark Davis spoke about the team’s decision to move on from the wide receiver after playing only 37 games for the Raiders.
“It’s part of this life in football,” Davis said. “Players come and go. If things don’t work out, they don’t work out.
Tom Telesco (the Raider’s GM) did a good job today of making sure that we move forward in the future with as little distraction as possible.”
The truth is that Adams was an enormous distraction and constantly hung over the Raider’s head. Adams was nursing a hamstring injury while the trade was in the works and didn’t take the field, meaning Davis had to pay the receiver $983,333 a week despite him not taking the field.
Davis insists that he let head coach Antonio Pierce and Telesco handle the situation.
“I leave these decisions up to the General Manager and the head coach.
“They make the football decisions. I consult with them and I might play devil’s advocate a lot of times, but they make the decisions and they make the final decision.”
In the end, Las Vegas didn’t take up any of the remaining salary that Adams is owed, leaving the Jets to work out his contract situation. This may be a rare win-win trade for both teams.
The Jets are desperate to make the playoff behind aging quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and Adams may be just what they need after a 2-4 start to the season. The Raiders failed to ever reach the playoffs with Adams, so it didn’t make much sense to keep paying his lofty salary.
It’ll be interesting to see how things play out for the teams.
