To listen to Antonio Pierce talk about Davante Adams, you’d think there’s nothing else going on with the All Pro receiver than a nagging hamstring issue.
“The update is Davante’s doing well,” said Pierce. “Hamstring’s getting there, he’s getting closer to getting back on the field. On the practice field and in good spirits. Talked to him, so everything’s good.”
Yeah, no. Everything is not good. Davante requested a trade last week and the Raiders have spent the past week and a half reaching out to interested teams trying to make that trade happen.
Putting a player on the field who doesn’t want to be here may not go over too well with the players who do want to be here. So, the question is, will Davante Adams play another snap for the Raiders?
“He’s still a Raider. He’s never not been a Raider,” Pierce said.
“He’s still a Raider. When he’s healthy and he can play, we’ll play him. He’s just not healthy right now. He’s getting closer though, that’s the good part. He’s working every day to get that hamstring right. He’s in the right head space, mentally. We talked recently and had a good conversation and he’s ready to play football.”
I’ll let you choose whether to believe that to be the full truth or not. And who knows if Pierce and Adams were able to smooth things over since the initial request.
One reason to take this high road of sorts for Pierce is to not put the leverage completely in the camp of interested teams. If he can convince them the Raiders are ready to keep Adams should they not up their offers, they will have more of a sense of urgency.
But, yeah, it’s hard to imagine Adams suiting up for the Raiders again at this point.
