Analysis: Davante Adams has every right to be frustrated with Raiders

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Sept. 29, 2023 | 2 a.m.

Davante Adams flipped his hands palms-up and shrugged his shoulders to start his weekly news conference Wednesday at the Raiders’ team facility in Henderson.

He didn’t even need any words to describe how he felt about the outside reaction to comments he made after a 23-18 loss to the Steelers Sunday at Allegiant Stadium. Adams’ body-language said it all when asked whether he felt sharing his feelings about his impatience and frustration with the Raiders’ failure to “establish a winning culture” resonated correctly.

“For the people that it needed to, yeah,” Adams said. “The rest of the people, it's no surprise, no secret that I truly don't care what people think. As long as the people that it's intended for understand the message, that's what's most important to me. For the people that didn't understand the message, it was not a shot or directed at anybody in the front office here. That was about us as a football team, and the players that go out there and control things.”

Adams put on a masterclass against the Steelers, having one of his best games as a Raider with 13 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns. If there was any misguided doubt about whether the 30-year-old would stay at the top as one of the league’s best players for another year, it’s already been extinguished.

Adams sat fifth in the NFL with 322 passing yards going into Week 4, where the Raiders travel to take on the Los Angeles Chargers at 1:05 p.m. Sunday, and tied for second with three touchdowns.

But that stratospheric standing comes with a guarantee that every action and statement will come with a great deal of scrutiny. It’s a reality Adams recognizes, but not one that’s ever easy to manage.

In the aftermath of expressing disappointment this time around, fans and analysts speculated whether Adams could have been calling out coach Josh McDaniels or planting seeds for a move before the NFL’s trade deadline at the end of October. But for at least the second time since the end of last season, Adams was adamant that he didn’t mean to criticize anyone outside of the locker room where he serves as a team captain.

“I think it’s really cowardly and a small thing to take shots at coaches when we have the most to do with what ultimately happens on the field,” Adams said. “I’m pretty direct dude, as you know, so if it was that mean, I wouldn’t personally decide to go to the media about it. I would take care of it the way a man is supposed to.”

Adams was surely being genuine, and offering a clarification was a courtesy for McDaniels and Raiders general Dave Ziegler.

But it was also unnecessary.

Adams is under no obligation to qualify his frustration. Yes, he signed a $141 million contract to come to the Raiders last season, but that was under a lot different circumstances.

The reasons were more complicated than the well-publicized desire to reunite with quarterback Derek Carr, but it was certainly one factor. Carr was cut loose before spending one full season with his Fresno State “best friend” but Adams expressed no reservations about staying in Las Vegas without him as long as the franchise pushed to build a championship-caliber team.

That doesn’t appear to have happened as the Raiders got younger, but if anything, shed talent this offseason. Their current two-game losing streak has indicated that they could wind up every bit as bad as most projections labeled them to be coming into the season.

Adams knows the clock on his prime is clicking, and it’s not fair if it’s wasted on a team with a wholly different contention timeline than his own.

“He has a right to be frustrated because that dude shows up every single day and he gets better,” edge rusher Maxx Crosby said. “Me and him are tight as ever because that’s how we are from Day 1. That’s why he’s elite, and he has a right to feel that way. “

The only other player on the roster that holds as much sway as Adams is Crosby, and it’s natural to point out that the latter never seems to be involved in any of the same sideshow dramas. But Crosby’s situation is completely different.

For one, he’s only 26 years old. He’s also a homegrown player having been picked by the Raiders in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft who’s made it his stated mission to help turn around the franchise.

Adams came to Las Vegas because he thought he could be the missing piece on a veteran-laden team coming off a playoff appearance. He sensed a championship window was closing with quarterback Aaron Rodgers on his way out in Green Bay, so he moved to a spot where he figured one would be open for longer.

It’s unfortunate, if not cruel, that it might have been slammed shut just as he was getting settled.

Adams wisely hasn’t apologized for airing any of his grievances. No matter whom they were directed towards, the Raiders have let him down and he’s not in the wrong to express as much.

“It’s not happening to the degree that we want it to happen,” Adams said of the Raiders’ preparation being up to par. "That’s what you’re after. That’s what all the best teams do. It's not just about the Sunday or the Saturday before the game, cleaning things up. You have to be locked in and attentive to all the things that go into a winning week. And we're trying to do things the right way, but there's just another level that I know we can tap into."

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or