‘Ready to get to work.’ What Raiders’ Davante Adams said about reuniting with Derek Carr
The Davante Adams era with the Las Vegas Raiders formally began Tuesday with an introductory news conference at team headquarters.
The Raiders acquired the star receiver from the Green Bay Packers on March 17.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is itching to reunite with Adams for the first time since they starred at Fresno State in 2013.
“I’m hoping it’s fireworks,” Adams said. “We’ve established we know what we’re doing being apart from each other, let alone when we get together. We’re both excited and ready to get to work.
“Derek’s been bothering me to throw every day. I was like, ‘Look, man, I got to sign and do all those other stuff and get some of the logistics taken care of, make sure my (pregnant) wife is not in too much pain.’ We’re ready to get to work and start building on that connection we built over a decade ago.”
In each of the past two seasons, Adams topped 1,000 yards, including a career-high 1,553 this past season. In 2020, he had a career-high 18 touchdowns with Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback.
In two seasons with Carr at Fresno State, Adams had 1,312 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2012 and followed that a year later with 1,719 yards and 24 touchdowns. Both the receiver and the QB smashed school and Mountain West records.
Carr and Adams rolled with the Bulldogs, whose depth at wide receiver limited any double-teams thrown Adams’ way.
In Las Vegas Adams joins Hunter Renfrow, Bryan Edwards, Tyron Johnson, Dillon Stoner, DJ Turner and Javon Wims as Raiders wide receivers. Las Vegas added Mack Hollins and Demarcus Robinson to the group in free agency, but a player such as Adams gives the team an obvious game-changer and a big-time boost.
The other key pieces of the Raiders’ offense also figure to be more dangerous, with star tight end Darren Waller, Renfrow and running back Josh Jacobs potentially ready to elevate their games.
Carr appeared — even after throwing for a career-best 4,804 yards in 2021 — only to need a No. 1 guy to add to his weapons ... like at Fresno State. He has that now in his best friend.
Adams arrived in Las Vegas at 1 p.m. and was taken to the team headquarters in Henderson where he toured the facility and said it was “top-tier.”
Adams said he grew up a Raiders fan his whole life, growing up in East Palo Alto. He even donned a Charles Woodson jersey when he was young.
He’s looking forward to helping the team.
“I’m a secure wide receiver,” he said. “I know what I bring. I told Derek don’t feel any need to pressure and force me the ball. We don’t have to try to please the media. Let’s go out there and do this thing, like how we did before. We put together a pretty good résumé in college together. This is not college, but we still got that connection. I’m looking forward to putting it on display.”
Brown idolized Brown and Woodson
Adams shared a picture on Instagram sporting a Tim Brown jersey. Adams even flexed.
He alluded that someday he wanted to become a future NBA or NFL star.
Adams spoke how he’s been a Raiders fan his entire life while growing up in the Bay Area.
He idolized past greats such as Brown and Woodson.
“Tim Brown was a was a big inspiration,” he said. “My whole family was Raider fans, so I knew a lot about the history since I was young too. Just growing up, honestly, all Raiders, anything Raiders was what I was about. I had a Tim Brown jersey, C-Wood, those got worn until the numbers fell off. Rich Gannon, I mean everything. So, I’m just looking forward to coming in and trying to leave my footprints as well as I can.”
Brown took to Twitter to say he spoke to Adams overnight and is looking forward to see many of his Raiders records fall.
“Alright Raider Nation! I just spoke with (Davante Adams). Y’all are gonna love him! A little background: my wife and his dad’s fiance were good friends in Oakland, I’ve been hearing about him since he started playing the game. Now i get to watch him demolish my records! Lol!,” Brown wrote.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 4:16 PM.
