Davante Adams Deal
Late in the free-agency prep process, about 12 days ago, Raiders coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler looked at Davante Adams’ tape independently. When McDaniels and Ziegler met to discuss what they’d seen, they agreed he was an incredible prize: great start-and-stop ability to create separation, big and thick but excellent short-area quickness, runs through defenders, excellent hand strength, dictates leverage. A premier talent.
Adams, a free agent who had told the Packers he wouldn’t play on the franchise tag, had been tagged by Green Bay nonetheless. Every team has been in this situation—an unhappy player saying he won’t play under his current deal. Ziegler didn’t know what to expect but called Packers GM Brian Gutekunst last Sunday, eight days ago. Over the next three days, they talked six or seven times. Late in the process, it became clear it would take a first-round pick and a second-rounder to pry Adams away. While Ziegler was willing to give Vegas’ first in 2022 and second in ’23, he didn’t want to denude his draft this year by giving both picks in 2022.
But in the opening days of free agency, you’re not just doing one deal. You’re cutting players—in Vegas’ case, linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and defensive end Carl Nassib—and trying to get minor and major deals done too. While the Adams talks were getting serious, the outside world was moving fast at edge-rusher.
McDaniels and Ziegler both loved edge-rusher Chandler Jones, the 32-year-old former Patriot. They’d known him in New England, and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham coached on that defensive staff for Jones’ four seasons as a Patriot before Jones was dealt to Arizona. In order to pursue Jones, for cap integrity and roster balance, they probably had to move edge-rusher Yannick Ngakoue. Luckily, Ngakoue had engendered some interest, specifically from Colts GM Chris Ballard. And when Ziegler looked at the Colts roster, he saw a player he liked entering the last year of his contract: cornerback Rock Ya-Sin. As a Patriots scout, Ziegler had spent two hours with Ya-Sin at Temple the day before his 2019 Pro Day and found him cerebral and competitive.
Ziegler’s first talk with Ballard and the agent for Jones came Tuesday. By mid-afternoon Wednesday, Ziegler had to balance both deals. He wasn’t signing Jones without being sure he could deal Ngakoue. He had the structure of a deal done with Jones’ agent Ethan Locke but nothing set in stone. So around 4:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, Ziegler and Ballard agreed to the trade, and within 10 minutes, Ziegler finalized an agreement with Locke.
Success in one area. In another, Adams was getting to be a slog.
It became clear by Wednesday afternoon that Gutekunst was firm. The deal for Adams wasn’t getting done unless the Raiders traded both the first- and second-rounder in this year’s draft. That would give the Packers enough ammo to replenish the receiver group minus Adams in this year’s draft—four picks in the top 60 of a draft chock-full of wideouts. But it would rob the Raiders of any picks in the 2022 draft till 86th overall. Ziegler didn’t want to be shut out of his first draft as a GM through 85 picks.
They’d sleep on the Green Bay ultimatum Wednesday night. The next morning, McDaniels and Ziegler met in the room they were using as the sort of free-agency command center at the Raiders’ facility in Henderson, Nev. The meeting lasted four hours. Was there another creative way to entice Gutekunst? They couldn’t think of one. Pros and cons, cons and pros. Contract alternatives in case they could get Adams, and cap ramifications. Around noon PT, Ziegler and McDaniels agreed Adams was worth the one and the two this year. That’s how much they wanted Adams to be reunited with his good friend and former Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr.
Early in the afternoon Vegas time, mid-afternoon in Green Bay, Ziegler called Gutekunst and said they were willing to do the deal: Adams for the Raiders’ first- and second-round picks this year. But now they had to be concerned with getting a new contract done; Adams wasn’t playing on a one-year deal. Gutekunst gave them permission to talk with the agent for Adams, Frank Bauer. In the next couple of hours, the Raiders got a deal done that satisfied Adams—five years, average yearly compensation of $28 million, best for any wideout in the league—and one that satisfied the Raiders. The deal, practically, is three years for an average of $22.5 million a year, with no guarantees in year four and five. Vegas expects Adams will still be a big-time player in year four, when the contract would likely be extended or amended.
Now the deal could be consummated. When they got back on the phone, Gutekunst and Ziegler, to be official, so there would no mistake, each repeated the terms of the trade:
Davante Adams from the Packers to the Raiders. First-round and second-round picks in 2022 from the Raiders to the Packers.
“We’re good,” Ziegler said into the phone before hanging up.
He turned to his partner in this new Vegas adventure, his friend from the football team at John Carroll University just outside Cleveland in the mid-nineties.
“We’re good,” Ziegler said to McDaniels. “Got Davante Adams!”
Ziegler and McDaniels bear-hugged.
The deal gives Adams the most guaranteed money ever for a wideout, per a source: $65.67 million, with an eye-popping $42.75 million in compensation in year one. And it gives Adams the happiness he wanted: He wanted to play in the west, and his first choice was to be able to play with his college quarterback from Fresno State, Derek Carr. Adams gets the money, and he gets the happiness.
Carr was happy. Adams was happy. The Raiders were happy. The Packers, well, realized it was probably unwise to get in a possible holdout war with Adams, and now have the ammo to replace him with a veteran in trade or a couple of draft picks from a loaded wideout pool in the April draft.
Outside the building, the football world got bug-eyed over the stunning Packers/Adams divorce and what it meant for Derek Carr and the retooled Raiders. After the hug, Ziegler looked at his board. Back to work. Next job: importing free-agent running back Ameer Abdullah. Ziegler finished Abdullah’s deal Thursday night.