Davante Adams wants a trade…should the Patriots be involved?
Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams has reportedly requested a trade. Should the receiver-needy Patriots make them an offer?
Over the offseason the New England Patriots tried multiple times to add a coverage dictating top wide receiver, reportedly making significant contract offers to Calvin Ridley and more recently Brandon Aiyuk. Neither player ended up signing with the Patriots, leaving the team without a ‘true No. 1 receiver’ to start the 2024 season. Four weeks in though, they may have another chance to make such an addition.
On Tuesday, ESPN reported Las Vegas Raiders wideout Davante Adams has requested a trade. Adams, 31, is a three-time All-Pro who has five 1,000-plus yard seasons and six seasons with 10-plus touchdowns (including leading the league twice) in 11 years in the league between the Raiders and Green Bay Packers.
Despite being over the age of 30 and dealing with sub-par quarterback play in Las Vegas, Adams has continued to produce. Last year in 17 games (Adams hasn’t missed any games since 2020) he caught 103 passes for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns.
Coming into the 2024 season, Adams certainly still looks like the kind of coverage dictating wide receiver the Patriots have wanted to add. Should – and will – the team make the call about his availability?
There are a few factors to consider here. First, the price. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter the Raiders want a second-round pick and more for Adams in a deal. Keep in mind though that’s just what the Raiders want, and not necessarily what they’ll get or what other teams see Adams’ value as.
According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, a more realistic return may be a third-round pick. A third round pick would be a much more realistic price for the Patriots, who have two third-round selections after trading Matthew Judon back in August.
How that shakes out will come down to how many teams are in the market for Adams. Working in the Patriots’ favor is the fact that some of the more wide receiver-needy teams – like the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers – are in the same division as the Raiders which likely rules them out as trade partners. If the bidding does drive Adams’ price up into the second round though (with teams like the Commanders and Jets) then that’s more than the Patriots should be looking to give up at this point in time.
The Patriots also have the advantage of spending power. According to NFL insider Josina Anderson a restructure may be needed to get a deal done. Adams has no guaranteed money in his contract beyond this 2024 season, per OverTheCap.com. OTC also has the Patriots with the most projected cap space for the 2025 season (over $137 million), putting them in position to make a competitive leading financial offer to Adams.
That’s assuming the Patriots want to pursue Adams the same way they did Ridley and Aiyuk. One key difference between Adams and those two – mainly Aiyuk – is age. Adams will turn 32 in December, meaning he likely wouldn’t be a part of the Patriots’ long-term plans and grow with Drake Maye and the offense the way a player like Aiyuk would. However, even having him for a a year or two would give Maye an elite receiver to work with early in his career, and bridge the gap until the Patriots can find the long-term answer at that position (specifically if they need to draft and develop a player).
Would Adams fix all of the Patriots’ offensive issues? No, certainly not. Pass protection is still the biggest problem, and tackle remains a major need. At the same time the more high-level offensive talent a young quarterback has at his disposal the better, and getting Adams for a late Day 2 pick would allow the Patriots to add such a player while still having the flexibility to make other blue-chip additions this offseason.
In the end though, that reasoning may all be for not. While Adams did have praise for the Patriots and head coach Jerod Mayo during a podcast appearance over the summer, that’s pretty much all the team has to offer right now. A leading reason for Adams’ trade request is likely the state of the quarterback position in Las Vegas.
When Adams requested a trade prior to the 2022 season due to a contract dispute, he highlighted the Raiders as a landing spot in order to reunite with his college quarterback, Derek Carr. However the Raiders, under then-head coach and former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, moved on from Carr late in the 2022 season. The team has started five quarterbacks in the 23 games since – Jarrett Stidham, Jimmy Garoppolo, Brian Hoyer, Aidan O’Connell, and Gardner Minshew. O’Connell has the most starts of any of those quarterbacks in that time span, with 10.
Adams won’t exactly find quarterback stability in New England. There is a clearer plan for the future with Maye set to take over for Jacoby Brissett eventually, but that timeline remains unclear and Maye is still a relative unknown, regardless of his potential.
In the spot they’re in right now, the Patriots can’t pass up on a chance to upgrade their offense. Whether or not Davante Adams would actually come to New England is fair to debate, but that doesn’t mean the front office should collectively sit on its hands and just wait until the next offseason. At the very least Adams would give the team a ‘bridge’ top wide receiver to work with Maye, and potentially even speed up the process of getting him on the field. That possibility alone makes it worth at least picking up the phone and placing the call to Vegas.
