By all appearances, the Las Vegas Raiders are ready to at least seriously consider trade offers for star wide receiver Davante Adams. That process has quickly accelerated from a more abstract idea to something that increasingly looks like it could happen in the coming days.
And as the process quickly spins forward, it’s becoming increasinly clear the Detroit Lions are not one of the teams expected to be involved in the trade talks for Adams.
Numerous league sources, including Adam Schefter to Dianna Russini, mention a handful of teams already in conversations with the Raiders and Adams in terms of potential trade partners. The Lions are not among any of the lists — beyond those that are simply speculating that Detroit would be a good landing spot because of their relative need at wide receiver.
The Lions would indeed make a great place for Adams, who has consistently been one of the NFL’s most prolific receivers across multiple offenses and different quarterbacks. Alas, the process of acquiring the 31-year-old All-Pro puts a real damper on Detroit’s chances, for a variety of reasons.
First, compensation. The Lions already dealt away their third-round pick in 2024 (for Giovanni Manu). Any other trades, like one for Adams, would carve away more draft assets for GM Brad Holmes, who has stridently built a Super Bowl contender with savvy drafting.
Adams will be a very expensive rental for the remainder of 2024, too. With per-game bonuses, he costs just under $1 million per week. The Lions can afford that under the cap, but it would significantly chip into the all-important cap rollover that Holmes & Co. depend upon to make their cap management strategy viable. Adams contract balloons to over $35 million in salary for 2025 with none of it guaranteed–meaning he’s going to be released by whomever trades for him and then starting over fresh.
The simple business side of the Adams contract would preclude the Lions from being involved, based on everything we’ve seen from this management regime. It also doesn’t really fit with the Ben Johnson offense as its currently constructed.
Adams is a high-volume target and an elite one, too. So is Amon-Ra St. Brown. So is Sam LaPorta, though he hasn’t quite hit his stride yet in 2024. Jameson Williams has emerged as the big-play threat the offense needed to balance them. Adams would definitely be an upgrade to the corps, but it would come at the expense of touches for the stars already on the field. That’s also not what this Lions regime is proven to be about.