Las Vegas Raiders star wide receiver Davante Adams talked to the media for the first time since the surprising firing of head coach Josh McDaniels Halloween night.
Adams has been an outspoken critic of the current “Raider way” and how the team has performed on the field since he was acquired from the Green Bay Packers in a blockbuster trade ahead of last season.
The All-Pro wide receiver seemed a bit more calm and content in speaking with the media ahead of Vegas’ Week 9 outing against the New York Giants. He also provided a rather interesting quote about owner Mark Davis’ decision to fire McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler.
“Don’t get it confused. It’s not a celebration that we have a new coach and changes have been made,” Adams told reporters on Thursday. “One way or another, it was time for some sort of change. Just to bring a little juice in and revitalize the team…It’s been feeling like work too much and not having enough fun.”
McDaniels’ firing came one day after the Raiders’ offense put up yet another brutal performance in a 26-14 loss to the Detroit Lions, moving to 3-5 on the season. Vegas put up 157 total yards of offense and seven points (the other touchdown came via a Marcus Peters pick-six).
The end of this game saw Adams continue to show frustration by throwing his helmet after a bad pass from Jimmy Garoppolo. Perhaps, Adams is feeling better after interim head coach Antonio Pierce made it his first decision to bench Garoppolo in favor of rookie Aidan O’Connell.
At the very least, this is a different tune than Adams was singing immediately after Monday night’s loss to the Lions.
“I honestly don’t know what to say at this moment, I wish I had the words to say something that’s not going to get blown up in the media and taken out of context,” Davante Adams said after the game.
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It was back in 2021 that then-head coach Jon Gruden resigned five games into the season. Rich Bisaccia took over as the Raiders’ interim coach, leading the team to a 7-5 record and a rare appearance in the NFL Playoffs.
While the roster has been overhauled to an extent since that dramatic resignation, owner Mark Davis had similar reasons for moving off McDaniels.
“It just seemed we were going in the wrong direction. So, with the trade deadline, I just felt it was time to make a change, time to make a move,” Davis said.
The fact that Las Vegas did not sell ahead of Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline suggests that Davis and Co. are confident in their ability to compete for a playoff spot moving forward this season.
At 3-5 and with a daunting remaining schedule (Dolphins and Chiefs twice), this might seem like an improbable idea. But Vegas only finds itself 1.5 games out of the final playoff spot in the AFC.
For a player such as Adams who was accustomed to team-wide success in Green Bay, the past season and a half has to be seen as a nightmare. He had expressed this frustration several teams leading up to the firing of McDaniels.
“I’m not here just to hang out…I came here to win and to do it the right way. So, if it don’t look like it’s supposed to look, then I’m going to be frustrated if I’m not a part of that plan. Because I have the opportunity to go and change that and make it look like a much better picture out there. And if that doesn’t happen, then I’m going to be frustrated. It’s not about me, but I’m one of the bigger pieces as to why this offense is going to go.”
– Davante Adams (Oct. 18)
Now working under a former player in Antonio Pierce, it will be interesting to see if Adams’ attitude changes. At the very least, the wide receiver got the change he thought was needed and won’t be the subject of trade rumors for the remainder of the season.