It has been a calm offseason for Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams. Despite his lack of participation in the team’s offseason, he is probably observing their quarterback situation more closely than anyone else.
The Raiders still have Aidan O’Connell under contract and signed Gardner Minshew in free agency. Both have shown to be good quarterbacks, but neither significantly improves the team. Las Vegas has often been associated with 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels.
Recently, Adams took to his Instagram and posted a picture of Daniels holding up his Heisman Trophy on his Instagram story. While Adams didn’t comment anything, the post certainly raised some eyebrows.
Adams had his worst statistical season since 2019 due to the Raiders having inconsistent quarterback play. He’s interested in the team finding the right quarterback and it seems like he believes Daniels is the right guy.
The only issue facing Las Vegas is that Daniels will likely be a top-three pick. The Raiders don’t pick until No. 13 so they will have to trade up to secure the quarterback. That’s easier said than done.
Davante Adams Has Previously Praised Jayden Daniels
Davante Adams came to the Raiders to play with Derek Carr but the team moved on from the quarterback last offseason. The team’s quarterback situation was rough last season with Jimmy Garoppolo getting benched and Aidan O’Connell taking over.
Adams was pounding the table for the team to draft C.J. Stroud, who ended up winning Offensive Rookie of the Year with the Houston Texans. This year, he seems to have similar feelings about Jayden Daniels.
“I think based off the situation last year,” Adams said during the January 18 episode of “Two G’s in a Pod, “I paid a little bit more attention to where Bryce [Young] and C.J. [Stroud] were playing. It was a little bit easier to pay attention to them. I’m not great with college football but I did pay a little attention to Jayden Daniels.”
“I know he’s good, tough, obviously he won a Heisman so he’s a great player. That’s somebody that I think could come in and be a decent player.”
Adams doesn’t have much of a say regarding who will play quarterback next season but he seems to do a good job of evaluating talent at the position.
Acquiring Jayden Daniels Won’t Be Easy
If the Raiders really want Jayden Daniels, they have to hope that the Washington Commanders at No. 2 or the New England Patriots at No. 3 get cold feet about drafting a quarterback. Both teams have major needs all over their rosters so it’s possible they might not be ready to start the clock on a rookie quarterback.
If either team is considering trading down, the Raiders have likely already been in contact. The team went 8-9 last season and could be a quarterback away from being in the playoffs. They have a lot more motivation to start their rookie quarterback clock than a team like the Commanders or Patriots.
However, Las Vegas is going to have to be willing to give up a lot in a trade. At a minimum, it’s going to cost two first-round picks to get into the top three.