Receiver Davante Adams is as frustrated as anyone about the Raiders’ 3-5 start. He made that public numerous times, most recently after Monday’s loss to the Lions.
Adams, though, made clear Thursday he is not cheering the firings of General Manager David Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels.
“At this point, don’t get it confused, it’s not a celebration that we have a new coach and changes were made,” Adams said, via NFL Media. “Obviously, I think it was time one way or the other, it was time for some sort of change. Just to bring a little juice in and revitalize the team a little bit.”
Against the Lions, Adams had seven targets and one catch for 11 yards, which came on the first play of the second half. He dropped a third-down pass that was slightly behind him and twice was wide open for what might have been 60- and 98-yard touchdowns, but Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t give him a chance with wildly off-target throws.
The Raiders also benched Garoppolo for rookie Aidan O’Connell this week.
Adams has 47 catches for 539 yards and three scores in eight games. That puts him on pace for his worst statistical season since 2019 when he played only 12 games with the Packers.
The Jets called about a trade for Adams before Tuesday’s deadline, but he remains with the team, at least through this season.
“As I’ve said countless times, I want to be a Raider,” Adams said. “So, I want to try to make this work and do everything I can to keep it going.”
Ziegler and McDaniels brought Adams to Las Vegas in a blockbuster trade with the Packers in 2022 and signed him to a $141.25 million extension. Adams thanked the men for getting him to the Raiders.
“I really appreciate Josh and Dave for bringing me here and going through what they went through in order to make this happen for me,” Adams said. “I’m really appreciative of them because if they didn’t fight as hard as they did to make this happen then who knows how it would have panned out. It didn’t end up being the storybook finish that we all hoped that it would be, but at the end of the day, you can’t live your life saying how ‘what if I wouldn’t get here? what if they’d never taken the job or make decisions?’
“I just want to put it out that I appreciate them for this opportunity to get here.”
