Mark Davis on Davante Adams trade: ‘Players come and go’

The Raiders have shopped receiver Davante Adams’ contract for two weeks. On Tuesday, the Jets finalized a trade that would move him from the 2-4 Raiders to the 2-4 Jets.

At the league’s quarterly meetings in Atlanta, owner Mark Davis discussed the decision to move on from Adams, after 37 games during his tenure with the team.

“It’s part of this life in footballDavis said with TheAthletic.com. “Players come and go. If it doesn’t go well, it doesn’t work. [G.M.] Tom Telesco did a good job today making sure we move forward into the future with as little distraction as possible.

The word “distraction” underscores the fact that the recent report about the Raiders possibly keeping Adams through the end of the year was nothing more than an attempt to squeeze the best possible trade terms out of his new team.

Although Davis certainly wasn’t happy about the prospect of paying Adams $983,333 a week to not play, Davis said he let Telesco and coach Antonio Pierce handle the situation.

“I leave those decisions to the general manager and head coach,” Davis said. “They make the football decisions. I consult with them and I may play devil’s advocate a lot of times, but they make the decisions and they make the final decision.

In the end, the Raiders didn’t pick up any of Adams’ remaining salary. This certainly prevented them from getting the second-round pick they wanted for Adams — a second-round pick they wouldn’t get unless he made a first or second team All-Pro.

Since he has already missed three games this year, he will need to put up big numbers in the final eleven games to make the All-Pro team. He has 18 catches for 209 yards and one touchdown so far in 2024. That puts him in a tie for 76th in the league in receptions. He’s 70th in receiving yards.

In the end, the Raiders surrendered a first-round pick and a second-round pick to Adams, while only regaining the third overall pick. They also paid him more than $55 million for the 37 games he played in Las Vegas.

Along the way, they didn’t make the playoffs once, compiling a 16-24 record during Adams’ tenure with the team.

However, today’s trade is lemonade and/or chicken salad. They would have continued to pay him $983,333 weekly for 12 weeks, and would have cut him before the start of the 2025 league year, when his massive $35.64 million salary hits the books.