Tag: Raiders

New Orleans Saints have lost the Davante Adams sweepstakes

The Saints and Jets were frontrunners for Raiders WR Davante Adams. The Saints missed out on Adams but should stay in the receiver market:

After weeks of speculation, Davante Adams has been traded from the Las Vegas Raiders but not to the New Orleans Saints. Adams will be joining his other former quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, with the New York Jets.

Adams was traded for a third-round pick that could raise to a second based on performance, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

The Jets are assuming the entirety of Adams’ salary. This is a major reason the Saints couldn’t compete in this trade. Taking on the salary in addition to the compensation would have been irresponsible.

Chris Olave is in concussion protocol and Rashid Shaheed is dealing with a knee injury. The wide receiver room needs someone. Obviously, that won’t be Adams. There are still a few options left on the table. Amari Cooper would be a good option and he may allow the Saints to keep some of their higher draft picks, but they’ll have to prepare for the Denver Broncos with the players already on their roster.

Steelers RB keeps proving all the critics wrong

Najee Harris powers the Steelers offense to a big win over the Raiders.

Every time we give up on Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris, he has a game like he did on Sunday. The team opted not to give Harris his fifth-year option this offseason and there was no mention of a contract extension either.

And while Harris’ 2024 campaign hasn’t been great, you have to give the man credit for his effort this week and every week. Harris ran hard on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, with angry runs, dragging defenders and pushing for extra yards.

Harris carried the ball 14 times for 106 yards and a rushing touchdown on Sunday. He worked well with quarterback Justin Fields, who rushed for 59 yards. The Steelers’ 183 rushing yards were the best of the season, and it was only the second time the team scored more than 30 points in the last 47 games.

It isn’t clear if Harris is in the Steelers longterm plans but there’s not a guy on the team who plays with more heart or passion than No. 22.

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Steelers shake off slow start for big win over Raiders

Pittsburgh dominated the Raiders on Sunday and got 30 points for the first time this season.

When the game started, it looked like the Pittsburgh Steelers were in for a long day against the Las Vegas Raiders. But after surrendering an early touchdown the Steelers defense put the clamps down on the Raiders and the offense got 30 points for the first time this season en route to a 32-13 win.

The Steelers offense was powered by big plays from quarterback Justin Fields and running back Najee Harris on the ground to keep the chains moving. Fields finished with 145 passing yards and 59 on the ground and Harris had his best game of the season with 106 rushing yards. Harris scored one rushing touchdown and Fields chipped in two of his own.

On defense, Pittsburgh completely snuffed out the Raiders rushing offense leaving only quarterback Aidan O’Connell and a short-handed receiving group. Thanks to some garbage-time yards, O’Connell did finish with 227 yards but threw one interception as well. The Steelers also got two key fumble recoveries and when this team wins the turnover battle, they typically win.

Now the Steelers come back to Pittsburgh for back-to-back home primetime games before the bye week. First up for the New York Jets followed by the New York Giants.

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NFL legend Tom Brady continues rivalry with Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes in new role

NFL legend Tom Brady continues rivalry with Kansas City #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes in new role | @EdEastonJr

Over the years, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady have had memorable matchups on the field and golf courses.

The iconic rivalry continues with a new twist as Brady joins the Las Vegas Raiders ownership. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Brady is expected to be approved as a minority Raiders owner at Tuesday’s NFL fall league meeting in Atlanta.

The finance committee unanimously approved Brady as a minority owner, purchasing approximately 10% of the Raiders and businessman Tom Wagner from owner Mark Davis. The agreed-upon deal had been rumored since May 2023 but was held up due to the review process.

The seven-time Super Bowl champion is in year one of his 10-year, 375 million-dollar contract with Fox Sports as their lead play-by-play color analyst. He is now firmly in the AFC West, with the Raiders inheriting the long-time rivalry with the Chiefs. Aside from more potential golf outings, the matchups with Mahomes will have a new look but definitely the same intensity as he is now part of the silver and black.

Raiders sign former Bengals draft pick after he visits with Saints

Former Bengals third-round pick Zach Carter visited the Saints this week. He played for their defensive line coach in college but ultimately signed with the Raiders:

This is interesting. The Las Vegas Raiders announced Thursday they had signed defensive tackle Zach Carter to their practice squad, just days after he visited with the New Orleans Saints, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill.

Carter, 25, was a third-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals during the 2022 NFL draft but was waived last week. That’s after he played for Todd Grantham, the Saints’ defensive line coach, for three years in college at Florida. So clearly that relationship wasn’t enough to seal the deal, even though the Saints have a vacancy on their practice squad right now just like the Raiders.

Maybe Carter sees more opportunities to get on the field with Las Vegas. Bryan Bresee is seeing the lion’s share of snaps at defensive tackle for the Saints (225 in five games), followed by Nathan Shepherd (176 in five games) and Khalen Saunders (58 in two games). John Ridgeway (61 in three games) and Khristian Boyd (51 in four games) have been competing for that fourth spot in the rotation each week, and Kendal Vickers (21 snaps in Week 1) remains on the practice squad.

None of them are currently listed on the injury report, so this may have just been an opportunity to try and improve depth rather than a real search for more help.

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Teams believe the Saints are the favorites to land All-Pro wide receiver

Davante Adams wants to be traded to the Saints or Jets. ESPN reports other teams believe the Saints’ aggressive pursuit makes them the favorite to land him:

It’s been widely reported Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams would like to be traded to either the New York Jets or New Orleans Saints. His ties to Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr are clearly the driving factors behind that preference, seeing that neither team has performed particularly well so far.

It wouldn’t be the first time Adams requested a trade based on history with quarterback. The last time he requested a trade it was to play with Carr, his collegiate quarterback.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler shared that teams have told him they believe the Saints to be the favorites:

Teams I’ve talked to believe the Saints might just be the favorite, because they are on Adams’ short list of preferred destinations and are willing to be aggressive. Yes, the Jets are involved. But the Raiders probably will go with the best package. And because Adams seems to prefer going to the Jets or Saints, the Raiders are starting there, knowing they can expand the list if needed. As of now, those two teams appear to be in the driver’s seat.

So there are two reasons in the Saints’ favor: aggressiveness and Adams’ preference. Fowler said the Raiders will start inquiries with the Jets and Saints then fan out to other teams. Ultimately, the best package will win out.

New Orleans’ aggressive nature suggests they’re willing to go higher than New York is willing to. If trade talks progress well with the Saints, no team other than the Jets may even be get a chance.

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Opinion: Raiders’ trade demands are too steep for Saints to pay

The New Orleans Saints should move on from a Davante Adams trade rather than give in to the Raiders’ unreasonable demands:

We all know that one person in fantasy football who sends you trades that are obviously slanted. That’s the Las Vegas Raiders with Davante Adams. And it should be enough to push the New Orleans Saints into looking elsewhere for help.

It’s been widely reported the Raiders want a second-round draft pick at least, and they won’t take on any of Adams’ remaining salary. If the Raiders want to play hardball with what they’ll accept, the Saints should move on.

For New Orleans, neither parting ways with a second rounder nor taking on Adams’ big salary hit sounds desirable. It isn’t even realistic given their tight salary cap position. Adams is due about $12.5 million for the rest of the regular season and the Saints are under the cap by less than $4 million. However, it’s understood you may have to make sacrifices to get the trade done, and that’s something the Raiders aren’t currently accepting.

Per Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz, interested NFL teams are not willing to give up a second-round pick in addition to paying the entire salary. The Saints shouldn’t give in and give the Raiders everything they want.

The Saints have reportedly been more aggressive than any other team in pursuit of the wide receiver. Buckling to the Raiders’ demands would move them from aggressive to desperate. If taking on Adams’ salary is a part of the deal, the draft pick compensation should be lowered. Adams can stay in Vegas if the Raiders won’t bend on that.

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Report: Jets’ loss in London may cool their pursuit of Davante Adams

Adam Schefter suggested the Jets may cool their pursuit of a Davante Adams trade after a disappointing start to their season. That might leave the Saints out in front:


Just who is going to cut a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders and go trade for Davante Adams? It seems like everyone knows what everyone wants here. Adams wants to reunite with one of his old quarterbacks, either Aaron Rodgers on the New York Jets, or Derek Carr on the New Orleans Saints. The Raiders want to get at least aa second-round draft pick in exchange for him. And then the teams looking to acquire Adams want the Raiders to pay some of his salary for the rest of the season.

You’d think a gut-punch loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London would spur the Jets to take action, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter doesn’t think so. The plugged-in NFL insider sat down with Pat McAfee to share his insight to where things stand.

“I don’t think it expedited it, if anything, cooled it a little bit,” Schefter said. “At the end ultimately, I still think Davante wants to go play for the Jets or the Saints, and I think ultimately in the end, the Raiders figure out a way to work it out with the Jets or the Saints. It’s been those two teams. I think it will consistently be those two teams.”

And when taking the big-picture view, Schefter doesn’t see a great internal argument for pursuing an Adams trade.

“In their all-in year, they lost last week to Denver, and they lost yesterday to Minnesota. And Aaron last week hurt his knee, and yesterday hurt his ankle.  And there have to be people that say, ‘Now hold on. Do we want to know trade a second-round draft pick when we’re not playing overly well, we’re not reaching our potential? Do we think that a wide receiver is going to solve the issues that this team has been having?’ So I don’t view that game and that result as making it more likely that the Jets would trade for him.”

Sure, you could make similar points for the Saints. They’re dealing with a swath of injuries on both sides of the ball and their 2-2 record doesn’t reflect  how well they’ve played this season. But Adams would bring a physicality they lack in the passing game and open things up for downfield targets like Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. If he can help them end more drives with touchdowns than field goals or turnovers on downs, that might be worth it for a team that’s lost their last two games by margins of three and two points.

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Derek Carr shares his take on the Davante Adams trade rumors

Derek Carr says he would welcome Davante Adams with open arms. If he had his way, interest in a trade with the Raiders would be mutual:

Just how would Derek Carr feel about throwing passes to Davante Adams again? The New Orleans Saints quarterback was asked about just that topic, and he says he’d welcome the Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver with open arms if a trade reunited the two former college teammates. But he added that he doesn’t think that’s an uncommon opinion among NFL quarterbacks.

“I mean, I think all 32 quarterbacks would love to play with Davante. We would welcome that. I don’t know if I’ll get in trouble for saying that,” Carr grinned, “I would obviously welcome playing with him again if that ever worked out in our careers. You know he did have 1,500 yards, I think I threw him like 12 touchdowns. So we didn’t win as many games as we thought but it wasn’t all bad. We had fun doing it, that’s for sure.”

Carr said he and Adams vacation together in the offseason with their families, and that they still text each other on a weekly basis. It makes sense. They’ve been friends since they were teenagers enrolling at Fresno State, and they’ve connected on a lot of touchdown passes over the years.

It’s been consistently reported that Adams wants to catch passes from a familiar quarterback, whether that’s Carr or Rodgers, and Carr understands why the receiver may look back on their year together on the Raiders fondly: “I mean, I think it was the second-best year of his career. The narrative that it didn’t work out is correct, because we didn’t win as many games (as we expected). But when it comes to getting him the ball and him scoring a lot of touchdowns? I think it went pretty good.”

So if Carr had his way, interest in a trade between Adams and the Saints would be mutual. And some reports suggest that’s the case. Trade talks are expected to pick up quickly next week, so keep an eye out for movement one way or another.

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Report: Saints have made the most aggressive pursuit of 6-time Pro Bowl WR

The Saints are known for swinging big under Mickey Loomis. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports they’ve been the most aggressive suitors for Davante Adams:

The New Orleans Saints have been known for swinging big under general manager Mickey Loomis, and we aren’t too far removed from trade deadline pickups like Kwon Alexander and Eli Apple. They just might work the phones again before the NFL’s trade deadline on Nov. 5.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports they’ve been the most aggressive suitors for Davante Adams. There’s an eagerness to reunite the six-time Pro Bowler with his former quarterback Derek Carr. More from Rapoport:

Adams, sources say, views the New York Jets and his old friend Aaron Rodgers, as his top choice for a landing spot. That’s where he wants to play. But it’s been the New Orleans Saints who have been the most aggressive, while other teams, including the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers, have closely monitored the situation and stayed in touch. The Jets remain very much in the mix, as well.

With Adams’ hamstring close to being healthy, trade talks are expected to accelerate Monday and Tuesday. If a trade is going to get done this week, which is possible, Tuesday would be the deadline.

If the Raiders don’t get their price, they are content to wait it out, sources say.

This lines up with another report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who said: “The New York Jets and New Orleans Saints are considered the two favorites to land Adams, but they are hardly the only teams interested in the three-time All Pro. The Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens also are monitoring Adams situation and could get into the mix, according to sources.”

The Raiders have made it known they want at least a second-round draft pick in return for Adams, but they may have to agree to pay some of his 2024 salary to get it, and that’s something Rapoport says they’re hesitant to do. Ultimately it’s going to come down to who makes the best offer. If the Jets aren’t willing to pay a second rounder but the Saints are, in exchange for the Raiders paying part of Adams’ salary, that could make the difference.

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