It was “business as usual” for the Raiders on Wednesday, a day after they sent star receiver Davante Adams to the Jets. No one in the locker room seemed upset at Adams’ departure or see the move as part of a “rebuild.”
“It’s like a period on a weird situation,” receiver Jakobi Meyers said, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN. “Instead of a comma or a dot, dot, dot. Whatever you call that. [An ellipsis]. But yeah, at least now we know what we’re working with. Hopefully, everybody’s happy and we can just make plays with what we’ve got.”
The Raiders traded Adams, who has missed the past three games with a hamstring injury, to the Jets for a conditional third-round draft pick that can become a second-rounder based on performance. It ends weeks of speculation about Adams’ future, something that might . . . or might not have become a distraction in the locker room.
“I mean, I don’t know,” edge rusher Maxx Crosby said. “I feel like it just depends on how much you put into it. I see a million things about me all the time, and I don’t know if you can consider that a distraction or not. It’s all just shit people make up a majority of the time. So at the end of the day, I just wish them the best. . . . I’m just worried about the guys that are here and winning football games.”
Meyers, Tre Tucker and DJ Turner now will be among the wideouts trying to replace Adams’ production. The Raiders also have rookie tight end Brock Bowers, who is the team’s leading receiver with 37 receptions for 384 yards and a touchdown.
“Just missing that piece,” Bowers said. “But we’ve got other dudes here that are going to pull through, hopefully. And we’ve got to get healed up a little bit with Jakobi and stuff, and we’re on the right track.”
Adams’ departure coincided with Tom Brady’s arrival as the Raiders’ new minority owner arrived at the team facility.
“I know he’s pretty busy, but any time he’s got, I’ll definitely pick his brain,” quarterback Aidan O’Connell said, via W.G. Ramirez of the Associated Press. “Obviously a great person to have in an NFL building. He’s someone who’s done it for so long at the highest level, and so you can learn a lot just in the things he says, even just his presence being around is awesome for us.”
Aaron Rodgers tried to manifest a Jets trade for Davante Adams this summer, saying, “I love Davante. I can’t wait to play with him . . . again.”
After 2 1/2 years apart, the players are reunited in New York.
Adams said Wednesday that he told the Raiders he wanted to go to the Jets, who acquired him for a conditional third-round pick that could become a second-rounder based on performance.
“It’s been a rollercoaster for sure,” Adams said, via video from SNY Jets videos. “It’s a weird thing to say that I’m happy, but obviously it was time for a change. This whole thing kind of transpired a little weird, but at the end of the day, we’re in a better place. I think the Raiders are in a better place as well. Everybody can kind of move on. But definitely been a rollercoaster. It was a little bit up and down and left and right, here and there, but we ultimately got it done.”
Adams has 622 catches for 7,590 yards and 69 touchdowns in 108 games with Rodgers, per statmuse.com, and he made the Pro Bowl five times with the Packers. He left the Packers in 2022 to go to the Raiders, and Rodgers left the Packers a year later.
Now, they are back together.
“It’s great just being back, being able to be with my guy,” Adams said. “First and foremost, just being able to spend time with him every day again is something I put a lot of value on. Just having his company. Just having him as my quarterback again, he’s part of why I am who I am and why I turned into the player whether it’s the cerebral approach, the attention to detail, just learning from him and watching him operate and just how dialed in he is at all times. I feel like that has a lot to do with how I ultimately ended up functioning how I do as a player. It’s a good deal, and it’s definitely good to be around him.”
Adams’ representation and the Jets restructured his 2024 salary for cap purposes. The new deal does not alter his salaries of $35.64 million in 2025 and $36.64 million in 2026. Unless the Jets and Adams work out a new contract after the season, the team will release him before the start of the league year.
Adams said he intends this to spend more than one year in New York.
“I hope so. That’s the plan,” he said. “I want to be here. I never go somewhere in hopes of having to find a new home, so that’s the hope.”
The Jets only held a walkthrough on Wednesday, so their first injury report ahead of Sunday’s game against the Steelers is just an estimation of how much work players would have done in a regular session but it’s always notable when the starting quarterback is listed as a non-participant.
Aaron Rodgers hurt his ankle in the team’s Week Five loss to the Vikings and the Jets said he would not have taken part in Wednesday’s practice. He was listed as a limited participant last Thursday and Friday before moving up to full participation Saturday and he played without issue in Monday’s loss to the Bills.
The short turnaround from Monday to Wednesday may have played a role in Rodgers’s estimated participation level and Thursday will bring a better idea about whether the injury is any issue for the weekend.
Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said at his press conference that he expects wide receiver Davante Adams to play on Sunday and his hamstring doesn’t look like it will get in the way. Adams missed his final two games with the Raiders, but he was listed as a full participant on Wednesday.
Cornerbacks Michael Carter II (back) and D.J. Reed (groin) were also listed as out due to injury while wide receiver Mike Williams would have missed practice for personal reasons. Tight end Tyler Conklin (hip), edge rusher Will McDonald (shoulder), right tackle Morgan Moses (knee), left tackle Tyron Smith (rest), and linebacker Chazz Surratt (heel) were listed as limited participants.
Najee Harris is often listed as a non-participant on Wednesdays, with the Steelers listing him as a resting player.
But that is not the case to start the preparation for Week 7, as Harris did not practice on Wednesday with a ribs issue.
Harris was on the field for 46 percent of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps in Sunday’s win over the Raiders. He took 14 carries for 106 yards with a touchdown and caught two passes for 16 yards.
Linebacker Alex Highsmith (groin) was a limited participant, which is a positive sign. He has not played since the Week 3 victory over the Chargers.
Safety Damontae Kazee (ankle), linebacker Nick Herbig (hamstring), center Zach Frazier (ankle), and running back Cordarrelle Patterson (ankle) did not practice.
Tight end MyCole Pruitt (knee) was full.
Linebacker T.J. Watt, defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, and guard Isaac Seumalo all did not practice as resting players.
Jets wide receiver Mike Williams is the odd man out after the arrival of Davante Adams, and if that wasn’t obvious before, it became very clear when Williams didn’t practice today.
The Jets listed Williams as not practicing on their daily injury report, and the reason given was “Not Injury Related - Personal.”
Whether Williams asked out or the Jets told him to take the day off we don’t know, but the Jets have begun shopping him and his days with the team appear to be numbered.
It’s unclear whether the Jets will be able to get anything for Williams in a trade, given that he has just 10 catches for 145 yards through six games this season. But Aaron Rodgers threw Williams under the bus after a late interception on Monday night, and now Williams appears to be gone.
