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Perhaps Raiders should trade Davante Adams but Packers should not reacquire him
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Perhaps Raiders should trade Davante Adams but Packers should not reacquire him

You can't blame Josh Jacobs for trying though.

Jason B. Hirschhorn's avatar
Jason B. Hirschhorn
May 31, 2024
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Perhaps Raiders should trade Davante Adams but Packers should not reacquire him
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More than two years have passed since Davante Adams played his final snap for the Green Bay Packers. The All-Pro receiver, concerned about the potential departure of Aaron Rodgers and the resulting uncertainty for the team's future, decided to take control of his destiny. Adams informed the Packers that he would not sign a new deal, eventually culminating in a trade to the Las Vegas Raiders.

At the time, the trade looked like a gamble that both the Packers and Raiders could lose. Though each team suffered as the result of the deal -- Green Bay's offense spent much of 2022 unable to consistently move the ball while Las Vegas' head coach and general manager lasted less than two seasons -- Adams ultimately became the trade's biggest loser. Not only did his reunion with college teammate Derek Carr effectively end after 15 games, but his best shot at post-Packers relevance disintegrated like a stack of casino chips at the craps table.

Adams now enters Year 3 of his Vegas residency with little to show for it. The Raiders have gone through yet another transition, this one headlined by their fourth head coach of the young decade. And while the latest reboot has featured some meaningful changes, the process didn't yield an apparent long-term solution at quarterback. Barring an unforeseeable development, Adams will catch passes from journeyman Gardner Minshew or middling second-year pro Aidan O'Connell.

Or maybe he won't if a former teammate has his druthers. Josh Jacobs, the ex-Raiders running back who signed with the Packers earlier this offseason, asked Adams directly about returning to Green Bay.

"When I came out here … I sent him the little eyes emoji," Jacobs said to The Athletic's Matt Schneidman. "I said, 'You thinking about coming back?' But man, he loved it."

A superstar wideout like Adams would improve quite literally any offense, and the Raiders have reasons to part with him whether they acknowledge them or not. That doesn't mean such a move makes sense for the Packers, however.

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