Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams has caused something of a stir over the weekend when it comes to comments made about quarterback Derek Carr.

Davante Adams is set to go through something of a culture shock this offseason, not just because of where he lives, but because of the team environment that he is about to set himself up for following his trade from the Green Bay Packers to the Las Vegas Raiders. 

The 29-year-old has become arguably the best receiver in the NFL recently, leading the league in touchdowns and yards per game in 2020 with 18 and 98.1 respectively and racking up a career-best 1,553 receiving yards in 2021, both years in which he was named First-team All-Pro.

All of that helped him become the lone wide receiver to be named into the Madden 23 ‘99 club for the upcoming game’, which is a somewhat subjective metric, but it shows that some people rank him as the best.  

A change of pace

However, some might argue that part of those numbers and accolades have only come because of the man who has been feeding him the ball during his days in the league, Aaron Rodgers, a man who could also put up an argument to being the best at his position recently, having led the league in passing touchdowns with 48 in 2020 and having been named league MVP in each of the past two seasons.

The man who now has that duty will be Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who despite having an impressive last two seasons himself, throwing for 8,907 passing yards and 50 touchdowns, didn’t even receive as much as a Pro Bowl selection for his efforts, suggesting that the level of service Adams is about to get might diminish.

But Adams, who was a teammate of Carr’s at Fresno State during their college days, has been quick to back up his new signal caller, although he might have accidentally put his foot in things with what he said.

A step too far

Speaking to CBS Sports as the Raiders returned to training camp ahead of the new season, Adams was asked about the adjustments that he would have to make moving from Rodgers to Carr, and seemed to hint that both his new and former teammate could both end up in Canton one day:

However, he has since clarified his statement by stating that he wasn’t necessarily putting Carr into the Hall of Fame just yet, and he was just talking about adjustments in general: 

“What I meant to say was even if you go Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer it’s an adjustment. Even if it is Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer, there’s going to be an adjustment. I wasn’t saying Hall of Famer Aaron to Hall of Famer Derek. So I’m not retracting my statement at all”.

Which perhaps was just him trying to take some sort of pressure off of Carr rather than that burden and expectation put on him, but even so it’s nice to see Adams have faith in his new quarterback, and hopefully the transition will be seamless as the team look to move forward.