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Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff Writer
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Davante Adams‘ sideline soliloquy, captured when he was mic’d up for the Netflix series “Receiver” in the Raiders’ Week 6 game against the New England Patriots last season, personified the growing frustration of a future Hall of Fame pass catcher in an increasingly frustrating season.
“I gotta get the f— outta here before I lose my f—ing life. I ain’t never been hit this many f—ing times in my career. Every game, I get f—ed up.”
It came after a particularly brutal hit Adams absorbed on a slant pass from Jimmy Garoppolo that was behind him, and the ball popped up into the air long enough to be plucked out of the sky for an interception.
That it came two weeks after Adams badly injured his right shoulder being driven into the ground after an off-target throw from Aidan O’Connell only added to the tension.
Nearly 10 months later, the Raiders have a new offensive playcaller, head coach and general manager, along with a quarterback competition between O’Connell and Gardner Minshew.
“I like to think it’s a fresh slate,” Adams said at the start of training camp. “I got a whole new mentality.”
Not that Adams was always in a bad state last season, he said.
“You saw raw emotion [on Netflix] and that was just a genuine look at what we were going through, and it wasn’t always the brightest point, but there was a lot of good moments too,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a television show, at the end of the day, so there’s going to be certain narratives and things like that. Not that it was not accurate, because it was very accurate, the way that I felt, the way that the team felt and kind of the place we were in as a unit.
“But I’m in a really good place right now. I’m really happy to be out here with the guys.”
Yet Adams, who left the team to return to Las Vegas for the birth of his son on Thursday, still appears to be searching for a groove with the quarterbacks.
There have been many wayward passes — termed “hospital balls” for the potential they have of getting their target hurt — by both O’Connell and Minshew in the first week-plus of camp where the once-unruffled wideout has shown visible frustration.
Throw in the constant background noise of trade rumors, especially to the New York Jets and his former quarterback with the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers, and, well, you have the recipe for another reality series. Even as Adams’ agents called any offseason trade talk “baseless, unfounded speculation.”
But his teammates are not worried.
“It’s a blessing for me and all the other guys to get to go against a Hall of Famer like that,” said cornerback Nate Hobbs. “He adds just a different aura to, not only the offense, but our team as a whole.”
Asked if he watched the streaming service show and Adams’ portrayal in it, Hobbs nodded.
“Yeah, but that’s ball,” Hobbs said. “I feel like that Netflix series, they did what they did, and the media likes to cut parts and only show you … certain parts. They don’t show you all of the positive or all of the negative, but it depends on what they want to show.”
Still, as a willing participant in the series, along with the Minnesota Vikings‘ Justin Jefferson, the Detroit Lions‘ Amon-Ra St. Brown and the San Francisco 49ers‘ Deebo Samuel Sr. and George Kittle, if Adams didn’t want any sideline complaints aired, they would not have aired, right?
“I watched pieces of it, but there’s nothing to talk about,” coach Antonio Pierce said. “Davante signed up for the show, there were things said and shown and it is what it is. You can’t erase it.”
While last season may have been Adams’ most frustrating in his 10-year career, the three-time, first-team All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowler still caught at least 100 passes and surpassed 1,000 yards receiving with 8 TD catches for the fifth time in six years.
But his 11.1 yards per catch average was the lowest of his career in a season where he played more than 13 games, and his 8 TDs, while tied for the Raiders team lead, were his second-fewest since 2015.
With a familiar face and scheme arriving with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who was with Adams in Green Bay, Adams has been able to play more catch than catch-up.
“I’ve retained, basically, I say 85 percent of this offense from when I played back in ’21 in the same offense,” said Adams, who was acquired in blockbuster trade with the Packers for first- and second-round draft picks in March 2022.
“So, just having that familiarity just helps and relaxes you a little bit. I’m not stressing as much, having to look at my notebook right before we run out on the field. I can kind of just focus on getting my body right, mind right, coming out and get ready to go have a good practice.”
As Adams put it, he was “in and out” of voluntary OTAs but was a full participant at mandatory minicamp, and before leaving for Las Vegas this week fully excused, was at every camp practice.
Even if he was not targeted and found with the regularity you would expect of a No. 1 receiver in the throes of a QB battle, one in which Pierce said he has no real timeline in which to name a starter.
“There’s pros and cons [to no timeline], but at the end of the day, we get enough reps with both guys and we are all communicating,” Adams said. “We have really open conversations, and we all get reps with all the quarterbacks … and I’m definitely watching at all times, seeing everything and learning how the ball comes out with Gardner versus Aidan.
“I got my antennas up for everything.”
It’s a familiar feeling for Adams.
“That’s kind of how [Rodgers] and I used to work,” he said. “It wasn’t just about the reps that we had in practice, but it was about the communication, the film that we watched together, and just going off of time and the different things like that that were equally as important as getting those [reps] on the field.”
Still sound like a guy who wants to get out?
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