Davante Adams Brings The Raiders’ Long Road To Vegas To Its End And Its Beginning.

The AFC West Arms Race Just Got Real.

In 2018, An eerie Wonder Of A TimeLine Not So Long Ago.

The New Story Of This New Generation Of The Old Raider Began.

Then Coach Jon Gruden Had A Conundrum On His Hands. Entering his  First Year As Administrator Of The Organization With Weighted Expectations Of Success, In A New city And a monstrous 10-year deal that Would pay The Veteran Coach About  $100 million Prospectively To raise The Relic Back To relevance Mounted on Him. Gruden Would Have To Play The Doctor. The Cuts Would Start On The Surface But The Cosmetics Began Where The Team Would Feel it Greatest.

The Former Buccaneers Buck Shot Spear Headed The Raiders Roster That Had Some Talent Hold Over from The Previous Reggie McKenzie Regime.  A Few Machiavellian Like Moves That Would Be Order To Shape the regime Of His Expected 10 Year Tenure, Even Beyond If He Could Bring A Title Aboard.

The Talent,  highlighted By Two 2014 Draft Class Standouts, First-rounder Edge Rusher Kahlil Mack And Second Rounder Quarterback Derek Carr. One, An All-World Force Of Defensive end.  In 2018 Four Years Into His Career, Mack Had 40.5 Sacks, A Monstrous Disruptor On The Outside, and A Defensive Player Of The Year.  At 26, Mack Looked Poised To Tear Into The League further Once He resolved The Business End Of Matters With His Present Team. On The Opposite End, Derek Carr, Quarterback out of Fresno State. Carr Didn’t Own The Same Level Of Acclaim Around League As Mack. Some Questioned His Inconsistency, His Gun Slinger Mentality, His Overall Upside, And His Struggles Under Pressure. A “lightning Rod” Of A Quarterback. Some Of The Criticism As All Criticism is, Seemed Misplaced. Sure He Had A Propensity for The Back-breaking Interception At Times, But He Proved He Could Win, And He Could Be A Force When Properly Coached. Who Better Than The offensive Mind of Gruden.

No Matter, The Critics Couldn’t deny Raider  Improvements And Carrs Number Continued To Climb The Brackets Of The Upper Echelon Year To Year As The Unquestioned Starter And It Didnt Stop The Raiders From Making Him The Highest paid Player in the league in 2017.

Above All, Carr Had The Makings of An Above Average Starter and A Growing Propensity For Big Plays. The Same Age As Mack The Two Looked Like Pillars Of Raiders Success To Come.

Before Carr Signed The extension, In 2016 He finished Third In MVP Finished With 3987 Yards And earned his second Pro Bowl In As Many Years. Mack and Carr Put The Raider In The Playoffs for The First Time In A Decade Before An Injury In the Final Game Of The Season Ended Carr's Breakout Year.

Two Season Later, Enter Gruden.  With Control Over The Team Personnel Group and Inherited Talent and Decision.  Mack Had A Fifth-Year Option As A First Rounder; Carr Already Got A New Contract The Year Before Five Years, 125 million Making Him, Quote “one of the five highest-paid signal-callers in the NFL.” Through The Pass “Happy” Era

Mack wanted To Be Te Highest-Paid Defensive Player in History. He’d Earned Such Honor So As Did Aaron Donald Before Him, A fellow 2104 Guy Who Set the Precedent. Donald Getting His Deal A Year Before Didn’t Help Settle Things With Makc And The Raiders and He Held Out To Prove It.

Then The News Broke that He Got It, Just Not From The Raider. The Bears Signed Khalil Mack To a six-year, $141,000,000 contract with the Chicago Bears, including a $34,000,000 signing bonus, $90,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $23,500,000 details According To Sportac. Gruden And The Raiders Handed MAck Off In A Move still Critized To This Day. Mack Ended His Holdout And In His four Years In The “Go” Mack Made Little Over 90 million  Having A Less Than exactitude Impact On Bears Success.

The Groupthink on the Trade Mostly Negative For The Raiders. Typical Shortsighted Raiders.

Gruden Wanted To Pay Mack, Just Not At Those Figures. An Offensive Minded Fixture Gruden Believed That NFL Success Gravitated around The Quarter Back And The For The Team To enter Into The Name era Of Football Every Thing Began At The Quarterback And Exited Outward.  With The Mack Trade Gruden, the de Facto GM, Well Paid Former ESPN Analyst Position Himself for staunch Criticism that sailed in from All Sure including his former Home. Gruden believed that Mack's presence would not change the dire state of the Raiders' Defense. They Were Near The Bottom at The Time Despite Mack’s success and a Growing School Of Thought That Player Don’t Improve When you Paid Them. The Move Made Both Cash And “Football” Sense. Years later, Gruden Would Try To Go Back On the Deal.

With Carr Settled In as The starter, The Raiders Worked To Improve The Players Around. Gruden Made Subtle tweaks To The Offensive Line Like Richie Igontio. Guard Gabe Jackson Had Already Been Paid, Another 2014 Guy. Another Feather In Mack’s Cap. The  Raiders Devied The Money The Save on Mack With Acquisitions For Guys like Trent Brown(flameout) And The Brief Episodes Of Dysfunctional Antonio Brown signing (massive flameout). Somehow The Raider Surmounted These Shortcomings To Make The Playoffs Again. But Gruden Would Have No Part Of The Success, At Least No In His Presence.

In October 2021,  Less than 24 hours after the Raider's 20-9 loss to Chicago, Khalil Mack led the Bears' defense With eight tackles and a sack of Derek Carr.  Gruden resigned from his job After derogatory Racially Inflamed Email Were Leak TO The Media.

Gruden Secure The Job with The Raiders To reBuild The Passing Attack, and He did So. But After The Loss Of He And Second-year Wideout Henry Ruggs, The Explosive Passing Attack That Saw The Raiders Start 3-0 Depreciated.

On Thursday, The Raiders Traded For All-Pro, arguably The Best Wideout In The Game, Devante Adams, To Join Carr In Vegas.  And In the Four Years Since the Trade And The Disarray That Followed It All Came Full.

As Per The Reports on ESPN. The Raider Will Send Their 2022 first Round Pick, 22nd Overall As, and The 54 Pick In The Second round. Rounding Out The Packers As four picks in the top 60 Going  28th  and 59th Pick The Packer Previously Own.

Given the Raider's Recent Success In The First Round, The Trade Results in A Win-win.

To Anyone Not Close To The Matter The Reports of The Move Could Be.

Adams And Carr Both Shared a Similar Refrain At the prospect Of The Two Joining Forces In Vegas. It’s no secret in League's circles about Their Connection. They keep In Contact Throughout The Season. Even In The Non-Adversarial Era In Sports, when Rivals Are Far More Causal Than they Had In Decades Past, it’s Rare To Devoted Connections Outside Of The Franchise’s Circle.

Still, Even As Adams Enter Free Agency, Both Remain Generally Despondent About any Engineered team-up. Waving The Calcifying Rumors Away In Favor of Polite Banter And commit To Their “Current” Organization as Currently Constructed.

 “He’s one of my best friends.” Adams “it’d be a dream to be able to play with him, but I’m a Packer now.” 

Carr Distilled A  similar Sentiment,  Referring to Adams As A “Best Friend” But Wanted to Focus On Sucess with Raiders.

What Would Give Format “Best friend” Or A Unsinkable Legacy In Title Town? By the Way, Neither Have Won Championship.

Entering His Ninth Season Adams’s Career Meets It’s Prime at Pinnacle Of Success. He’s So Good To put his play  Numbers Could Bogle The Mind, and That’s Not The Most Impressive Aspect Of His Game.

Since entering The League In 2014, Only His Draft Mate Mike Evans Has had More Touchdown. He Led The League With 18 Touchdowns in 2020 and Finished Second In Receiving Yards Despite missing One. He’s Been The Best Receiver In The Game For At Least the Past Two Years. Over the 2020 and 2021 regular seasons, he put up 2,927 yards and tallied 29 touchdowns Ranking Number Two And Number one In Each Category, Respectively.

But Adam’s Greatness Defies Production. Even when The Production happens to be already near incomparable Because Scheme and Playing Condition Could Bely talent.

That’s Not The Case With Adams. At 6’1, He’s big Enough Of a Target To Own The Middle. If He’s Not The Best Route Runner In The league, He’s Next Best. The Same Can Be Said Of His Speed Elusiveness. His Long Legs and Suddenness Help Adams Hit top Speed 4-6 Strides into His Route. Those Stair Case Like strides When Face Against off Coverages (5 yards Off) are a dangerous play and a Long Journey For Corners Hoping to Fend Off Fate.

Adams Scorched the Niners back in September. He Faced off coverage 18 Grab 10. Pass for 99 only generates more depth on top of the Yards of Cushion Offered.

To Adams, The Defense might as Well Have A White Flag.  Coverage fairs are No Better. Adams Rank Fourth Amin’s Receiver When Facing Man either Double Teamed Or Otherwise; It’s a Death Sentence.

In An NFL Landscape Cramped With Deliriously Stupid Athletic Marvels And Pressing Demand For New Schemes That could at least reflect The Sucess of the Passing.  No One Has Undercover the Blueprint To Obstruct Adams Prowess.

When the Packers Didn’t Favor the brackets That Adams Would Face On Downs, Matt Lefleur would Flip His Prized wideout around the Board. X, Y, and Z Adams Can Play Them All.

When The Packers Want To Stretch  A Zone Coverage, maybe open the Flats Or Target A Void Over the middle or Single a Favorable Match-Up, Adams Works A singular Gravity Shifting Piece. The Split Adams Out Wide. Suppose the Want to Force defenses to play a light Box To Open Up The Run Game The Thinking Work All The Same.

He Consistently Beats Double Teams, even To Aaron Rodger's Amazement. 

Adams Does His Best Work In The Intermediate Zone(below 20 Above 10 Yards) But Finished Top Ten Across The Board On Deep and Short pass. Screen Routes To Elevate Pressure On An Ailing Offensive Line.

Adams Can Win For A Team In Any facet. Of 1500 Plus Yard, 650 Came After The Catch Fourth In 2021. Adams finished first Last Year with 660 And His 2303 Yards After The Catch Over The Pass Year Are Number 1 in That Span.

Adams Joins The Raiders on A 5 Year 142.5million Dollar Contract Set To Purse Out A 28.5 Million Per Season, $67.5 million fully guaranteed.

 The Move Makes Adams The Highest Paid wide Receiver By A Margin. Compared To Quarterbacks; He’d Be The 12th Highest Paid In The League On Aver Number 7 In The League In Total Value According To Spotrac.

When Mack Got Traded, Players Of His Status Were Consider Prized. You Don’t trade Them and Never Let them Hit The Market. Green Bay Franchised Tag Adams ahead Of Free Agency, Hoping To Strike  A Long Term Deal With Him. Reports Are That Adams turned Down Potentially More Money In Favor of Vegas. The Reports Go Further To Say That Green Bay Came Prepare To Match or Surpass Any Offer But The relationship Between Player And Organization had Already torn. Staring into The Abyss with Adams Threatening To Either Hold Out Or Retire The Packers Made The Deal The Most Likely New Had Already Been On The Table.

Did The Packers Spend too Much Time Trying to Appease Rodgers and Not Adams? It's An Unenviable Position Balancing Two Stars Both In Demand Of Their Own Space, So To Say.

Or Had Things Played Out As Everyone Except for The Public Knew It would?

"It's never easy moving on from a player and person the caliber of Davante Adams.” And It May Take Some Time. The Packers Have Some Pieces To Re-Work The Roster.

The Cap Room Vacated By The Void In Adams Contract  Some $20 Million, Not To Mention The High Slotted Draft Picks In A Draft Rich At Receiver. Unfortunately For The Pack, Their Receiver Room Cant Boast Of The Same Stripes as Tampa Or even The Rival Vikings. As It Stands, Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb are The Only In House Receiving Threats On The Roster; Including whomever, They Roll Out A Receiver. More Over Despite Options Drafting Receivers Has Never Been A Numbers Game.

The Packers Picked  On Adams In The Second Round in 2014 But Haven’t Hit Home On Another Wide Receiver In The Draft Since. However, Thanks To Adams, They Haven’t Had To Invest Major Capital Into The Position. The Drafted Clemson Slot Dynamo Amari Rodgers In The Third Round To Catch four (4)  catches for 45 Yards In Five (5) Games.

The Raiders Two First Round Picks Are A Superposition Of A Commodity. They're worthless and Invaluable At The Same Time.

The Bears Traded Two First Pick To Oakland For Mack four Years Ago. The Raiders Parlayed Those Into Josh Jacobs, Running Back Out of Alabama. Since Entering The League In 2019, Josh Has Secured The Raiders Starting Spot and Been A Plus Thousand Yard Rusher 2 of his first 3 Years. Added To That 28 Touch On 4.2 Yards Per Carry. Nothing To Scoff at By Means One of The Better Running Backs In The League, But He’s Still Just A Running Back. Negligence”. The Raiders Drafted Arnette, cornerback, 19th Overall In 2020 Out of Ohio State.  One of Those  Beaming Draft Surprises Only Oakland Could Produce. Side note, Arnette turned 24 Years old At The Start Of The Season and had "significant concern" About His Character, That Raider Brass Knew About Ahead of Drafting Him. The Raiders Cut Arnette Only A Week After Losing Henry Ruggs To Criminals Charges In A Fatal Car Crash That Claimed The Life Of A Young Woman. The Story of The Raiders and Those Picks are Still Up In The Air.  

The “Verdict”(cringe) Rest on The Shoulder of Jacobs Hopefully Blossoming into A Hall of Famer.

Speaking Of Adams, He Enters A Raider Offensive Room as The Clear Cut Best Player on The Team, maybe In The Division. But This Raiders offense that Finished Top Ten In passing  Had Plenty of Fire Power to Boast Before Adams suited up For Them.

Few Would Argue Against Adams Bearing The Honor As The Best Route Runner in the League. He could make Two Corners Miss Tackles and Assignments In A Phone Booth. The Route Runner’s Approach The  Defender with Deception. “ make The Move Look Like Another Route.” Brown’s Wide Receiver Amari Cooper Professed.

Intimate The Move Direction With The Intent Of Going The Opposite. Adams Has The Gift To Win Out Right, Sort-of A Vanilla Route, And By Beating Cornerbacks To The Release With Misdirection.

  Not Far Down That List of exceptional Route Runners Would be Adams New Teammate Hunter Renfrow. The Former Clemson Product Renfrow Combine Route That Defies Physics And Next To Adams The Two May Be The Most uncoverable Duo In Short Space.

When You Include Tight end Darren  Waller, Who, Like Renfrow, Could Be The Next Best Guy At Anything In The World of Tight End, Waller Struggled With injuries Some Last Season But Has to Develop Into A Top Ten Tight end In The League When fully Engaged.

Derek Carr finished fifth in Passing Yards With 4,800 with 23 Touchdowns and 14 Interceptions Without A True Number Receiver And T.

Above all, The Davante Adams Trade Will Have A Blaming Effect Over The Last Number Of Years Of Raider Indifference. His Panthenonic Consistency Should At Least Absolve Some of The “on-again, off-again potent offense” Issues. Many The Raiders Woes Dropping From Atop Ten Scoring To Finishing Eight Began After the Tragedy Of Ruggs, Those Concerns Nor Does The Growing concerns Follows Adams.

"Each play has its own story, each play, each series.” So To Does Every Maneuver On The Personal Board, But The All Have Backlashes. “ To answer your question, it looks good one week, then the other week ... it's not." With Mack, It Looks Troubling with Adams Things. It Looks As Good It Could Get.