When wide receiver Davante Adams made the move from the Packers to the Raiders, he was leaving behind a partnership with Aaron Rodgers but excited about the chance to play with teammate Derek Carr.
Any hope that the pair would lighten things up quickly disappeared, however. The Raiders went 6-11 when Carr was cut and then cut after the 2022 season and 2023 saw a head coaching change on the way to another losing season. Speculation that Adams could be traded again has lingered over the Raiders because of how things turned out, but things have been better with his former team.
Rodgers’ departure opened the door for Jordan Love as the starting quarterback and Green Bay advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs following Love’s strong finish in his first year on offense. During an appearance on The rush podcast with Raiders teammate Maxx Crosby, Adams said he “hadn’t seen enough” of Love to know what the future held when he left Green Bay, but that he’s been watching and was impressed with what he saw.
“In hindsight, like we talked about, the kid’s a damn player, man. I’m so happy for him” Adams said. “I haven’t had a chance to really sit down and talk to him, but I want to tell him at some point ‘I definitely don’t regret changing, but I’m really proud of what you’ve done. If there was a way to pull you over here and drag you with me, that would have been cool too. Because obviously we saw what he did at the end of the year. I don’t regret what I did, but at the same time, it’s definitely where you look back and think ‘damn kid, I’m a bit crazy now’.”
The Raiders don’t have the same kind of certainty at quarterback as they head into the 2024 season with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell as options, so Adams will have to hope his offense can still catch fire despite that difference.
