Davante Adams arrived with the Las Vegas Raiders prior to the 2021 NFL season, and the thought was that he and Derek Carr would become one of the better 1-2 punches in the league. Adams and Carr had starred together at Fresno State, and the arrival of No. 17 would give the Raiders that WR1 the franchise had been missing.
Unfortunately for the Raiders, the time Carr and Adams spent together was short-lived, as Carr was benched down the stretch of the 2022 NFL season. The Raiders turned to Jarrett Stidham for the final two games of the year, and on Valentine's Day that offseason, Carr was released by the team.
In 2023, the Raiders turned the page on Carr and inserted Jimmy Garoppolo as the team's starting quarterback. That experiment was short-lived as well, as Garoppolo struggled to stay healthy, and the team was forced to turn to Brian Hoyer and Aidan O'Connell in his place.
Hoyer made one start for the Raiders, a terrible mistake that played a role in Josh McDaniels getting fired, and since the firing of the team's head coach, it has been all O'Connell. Despite playing with five starting quarterbacks through his first 31 games with the franchise, Adams has continued to go out there and dominate no matter who is throwing him the football.
Raiders star WR on the brink of another 1,000-yard season
With three games left in the season, Adams is only 32 yards away from another 1,000-yard season, which would make four for his NFL career. Last season, Adams set the Raiders single-season receiving yards record with 1,516, a mark that would be hard for him to match down the stretch in 2023.
Still, despite the Raiders failing with Garoppolo at quarterback, Hoyer starting a game, and now a rookie getting him the football, Adams has been a symbol of consistency. The Raiders may fail to make the playoffs once again in 2023, but it won't be from a lack of effort, or production from a guy who is likely to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot.