Davante Adams recently said that if he were to be “reunited with anybody, it would be with Aaron” Rodgers. A few days later, Adams is dreaming of playing with Tom Brady for the first time.
Adams didn’t let Shannon Sharpe finish his question about Brady unretiring to play for the Raiders when Adams enthusiastically said, “Hell, yes.”
“Look, Tom know how I feel about him, man,” Adams said on the Club Shay Shay podcast, via Sam Neumann of awfulannouncing.com. “And the other part is I think I’d be the first person that played with Tom and Aaron, so that would be pretty cool. I mean, he’s getting older, but he got to still be able to throw it better than half these dudes in the league.”
Brady is more likely to become an owner and limited partner of the Raiders than the team’s quarterback, but a receiver can dream.
Since he joined the Raiders, Adams has had Derek Carr, Jarrett Stidham, Jimmy Garoppolo, Aidan O’Connell and Brian Hoyer as his quarterbacks. Adams revealed on Netflix’s Receiver series that he approved the benching of Garoppolo last season.
O’Connell and Gardner Minshew are competing for the job for this season.
Brady would be an upgrade on both no matter his age. Brady, who turns 47 next month, threw for 4,694 yards and 25 touchdowns in his final season of 2022.
But he is set to become the top analyst, alongside Kevin Burkhardt, in the Fox booth this season.
Adams is more likely to play with Rodgers again than Brady, but for now, the receiver is “locked in” on the Raiders.
Veteran NFL running back Kenyan Drake is hanging up his cleats.
Drake announced his retirement as a player in an Instagram post on Friday. Drake played in games for the Packers and Ravens last season, but has not been with any team this year.
“It’s been an incredible ride,” Drake wrote. “Hard to believe eight seasons have come and gone. I’ve loved the journey — the wins, the moments big and small, the comradery, the energy, all of it. I can’t say I loved everything (if you’ve ever done training camp in Miami you can relate lol), but certainly appreciate the lows and the grind, and know those moments grew me as a football player and more importantly as a person. Ready to enjoy a little retirement and see where the next chapter takes me. Thanks to everyone that was along for the ride with me - wouldn’t change a thing.”
Drake was a Dolphins third-round pick in 2016 and spent more than three years in Miami before being traded to the Cardinals. His most memorable moment with the Dolphins came when he finished off the Miami Miracle by taking the last of several laterals and running for a touchdown on the final play of the game to beat the Patriots in December 2018.
He set career-highs with 955 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns for Arizona in 2020 and then moved on to the Raiders before winding up with Baltimore and Green Bay.
Drake ran 869 times for 3,866 yards and 33 touchdowns while catching 218 passes for 1,655 yards and eight touchdowns over the course of his career.
Davante Adams’ agents refuted trade rumors about the receiver Tuesday, calling them “baseless, unfounded speculation.” Adams tried to do his part to squash the talk during Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast released Wednesday.
Adams, though, appeared to leave the door open for a future reunion with Aaron Rodgers despite being “locked in with the Raiders.”
“If I were to be reunited with anybody, it would be with Aaron, or be relocated anywhere, it would be with Aaron,” Adams told Sharpe, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “There’s a lot of stuff last year in the media with them asking ... they talk about whatever without me even being involved in it. It ended up getting all the way to the point where it got in the locker room and people was thinking that I was the driving force.”
Adams has 622 catches for 7,590 yards and 69 touchdowns in 108 games with Rodgers, per statmuse.com, and he made the Pro Bowl five times with the Packers.
Rodgers stoked the rumors of a reunion with Adams during the American Century Championship golf tournament in Lake Tahoe last week, telling a fan, “I love Davante. I can’t wait to play with him . . . again.”
Rodgers’ current WR1, Garrett Wilson, later said he’s in favor of an Adams’ trade to New York.
Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who was teammates with Adams in Las Vegas, has said he “reached out” to Adams about a return to Green Bay.
Adams, though, is staying right where he is, at least for the time being.
The prospect of wide receiver Davante Adams being traded by the Raiders has been bandied about over the last couple of weeks and the wideout’s agents would like to see the chatter come to an end.
Packers running back Josh Jacobs said he reached out to Adams, a former Raiders teammate, about returning to Green Bay while Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who threw passes to Adams with the Packers, said that he looks forward to playing with Adams again in the future. Rodgers’s current teammate Garrett Wilson subsequently said he’s in favor of Adams coming to the AFC East team.
In an interview of his own, Adams confirmed Rodgers has been “in the ear” and that Jacobs was making “one of those jokes where he was serious because he would like that.” He punctuated both comments by saying “I’m a Raider” and said he expected to remain so unless the team ships him off. Agents Kenny Chapman and Frank Bauer told Adam Schefter of ESPN that there’s been no discussions involving such a move.
“This is baseless, unfounded speculation and Davante is expected to be with the Raiders as there has been absolutely no trade talk - period,” the agents said in a statement.
During an episode of Netflix’s Receiver series, Adams said that he signed off on the Raiders benching Jimmy Garoppolo last season because “something had to happen in order for us to have a chance down the stretch, and for me to remain a Raider, in all honesty.” That suggests he could reach another crossroad in the future that could lead to a different decision, but the word from his camp on Tuesday is that he’ll be in Vegas for the time being.
The Raiders will celebrate their 65th season with a logo designed to commemorate the franchise’s history and celebrate its legacy.
“The logo stands as a testament to resilience and tradition in the world of professional sports,” the team said in a statement. “Since their inception in 1960, the Raiders have carved out a storied legacy, becoming synonymous with passion, grit, and an unwavering Commitment to Excellence. Over the decades, the Silver & Black has thrilled fans with countless memorable moments – from historic victories to iconic plays to three Super Bowl championships – that have left an indelible mark on the sport. Beyond the gridiron, the Raiders have fostered a tight-knit community, uniting fans from all walks of life under the banner of Raider Nation.”
The team’s shield has the Roman numerals “LXV” in the middle, with swords completing the top and the bottom of the “X.” The “L” and the “V” are silver with the “X” in white.
The Raiders presumably will wear the patch this season.
According to sportslogos.net, the Raiders also have worn patches for the AFL’s 25th season in 1984, the NFL’s 75th season in 1994, Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003, Gene Upshaw’s passing in 2008, the AFL’s 50th season in 2009, the organization’s 50th season in 2009, the 50th anniversary of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012, the 50th anniversary of their AFL championship in 2017, the 60th season in 2019 and their inaugural season in Las Vegas in 2020.
Las Vegas is the third city the Raiders have called home, following stints in Oakland (1969-81, 1995-2019) and Los Angeles (1982-94).