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.”
