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The writing was likely on the walls when the Las Vegas Raiders decided to roll with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell as their quarterbacks, but Davante Adams has officially requested a trade. Though it’s logical for the team to trade a soon-to-be 32-year-old wide receiver on a big contract during a rebuild, losing him would weaken the wide receiver room.
In Week 4 against the Cleveland Browns, Tre Tucker and Jakobi Meyers were the only two wide receivers to make a catch. With that in mind, the Raiders could get creative. Cornerback Jack Jones is a versatile athlete and he was seen running some receiving drills in training camp. Ahead of Week 5, KTNV caught Jones running receiving drills again.
Jones is too valuable at cornerback for the Raiders to consider lining him up at wide receiver too much. That said, having a few packages where he lines up on offense could be interesting. Jones played a bit of wide receiver in high school. In two years at Long Beach Poly, he had 106 receptions for 1,556 yards. Obviously, the NFL is a completely different beast but Jones has the athleticism and hands to feasibly make some plays.
There’s nothing wrong with the Raiders trying to get creative.
Davante Adams Expected to Miss Week 5
Prior to the trade request becoming public, Adams was dealing with a hamstring injury that kept him out of Week 4. There’s been speculation that he’s exaggerating the injury but according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the injury is very much real, and it’ll likely keep him out in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos.
If he’s not traded soon, things could become complicated once he’s healthy. Head coach Antonio Pierce seems like the type of coach who would make Adams play despite the trade request. He also might not want to sit out and miss games. At the end of the day, the Raiders are still paying him to do a job.
This is a very complex situation and it’ll be interesting to see how the Raiders handle it. Perhaps a definitive win over the Broncos in Week 5 that gets the team to 3-2 may soften Adams’ stance.
Can Raiders Still Win Without Davante Adams?
The Raiders proved against the Browns that they don’t need Adams to win games. Meyers and Tucker are both capable wide receivers and Brock Bowers is already one of the best tight ends in the NFL.
The biggest issue with Adams possibly leaving is that it hurts their depth at wide receiver. Tucker and Meyers seem to be the only other wide receivers on the roster who can get open somewhat consistently.
It’s possible that the Raiders will get a wide receiver back in any Adams trade but they could also look to the free agent market. Even before the season started, Las Vegas was only going to be competitive if the defense was elite. In three of four games, the defense has been very good. Adams hasn’t made much of a difference this season outside of the Week 2 win over the Baltimore Ravens. His loss will hurt the offense but the Raiders aren’t likely to go on a deep playoff run with him anyway.
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