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Early in his introductory press conference in Florham Park, new Jets WR Davante Adams said about the Las Vegas Raiders trading him to the Jets:
“At the end of the day, we are in a better place and I think the Raiders are in a better place as well.”
This answer early in the press conference intrigued me, and I decided to asked a follow-up based on it. It took about five minutes to get it in because these press conferences are a free for all, where you have to jump in quickly when a player/coach finishes a thought before somebody else.
When I finally was able to jump in, and asked him, “Why would the Raiders be in a better place by trading one of their best players.”
Here is part of that answer:
“Let me choose my words carefully here,” Adams said. “I just think the usage sometimes and the way you go about things and the idea of how you’re trying to get the ball to certain people if it if it’s not working, typically, you know, a lot of the success me and Aaron had is because we were on the same page.
“And you know, him and I, whether it’s the signal he gave and we changed the play or knowing when the ball is going to come out or understanding that just because they’re trying to double team, it doesn’t mean you’re covered.”
He went on for a while, but I think this early part of the answer gave us the information we needed.
Adams is a great receiver, perhaps a future Hall-of-Famer, but he’s not a speed merchant. He’s fast enough, but doesn’t have blazing speed.
He ran 4.51 when he came out of Fresno State a decade ago, so it it stands to reason he is perhaps not even be that fast now, set to turn 32 in December.
And his forty time was probably one of the reasons he wasn’t picked until the second round, 53rd overall.
So you can’t expect him to flash open quickly like Garrett Wilson all the time. That is not his game.
He needs to work with a quarterback who will “throw him open” and give him a chance on 50-50 balls.
When you have a young QB like Aiden O’Connell or a journeyman like Gardner Minshew, they are often scared to death to turn the ball over, because they think picks will lead them to the bench, so they don’t like to throw to covered guys, like on 50-50 balls, and risk throwing a pick and getting reamed by a coach.
Rodgers is so secure in his own skin as a QB, he has no issue “throwing guys open” even if it looks like they are covered.
A perfect example was a 25-yard pass to Allen Lazard down the middle in the fourth against Buffalo.
On third-and-11, Lazard was running down the middle of the field, with Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard in tight coverage, but Rodger threw it early, surprising the defender who still had his back turned, and the WR made the catch.
This is a perfect example of what Adams was talking about.
But, honestly, based on his answer, you can understand why Adams wanted out of Vegas, and how it benefits him, but that answer doesn’t explain how it benefits the Raiders.
Think about it.
Even if the Raiders weren’t doing the best job of accentuating the player’s skillset by “throwing him open” more, how are they better without a player, who is probably going to Canton one day, and at the very least, takes up a lot of double teams allowing players like Brock Bowers and Jacoby Myers to get favorable coverage.
So this idea that the Raiders are better off without him might be hard to sell.
But to his credit, he kind of used an NBA player approach, to not only get himself traded, but to his preferred location.
October 17, 2024
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