The veteran wide receiver wants to get traded from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Over the first four weeks of the 2024 regular season, the New England Patriots offense has not looked good.
Ranking 31st in the league with just 13.0 points per game, the unit led by the first-year coordinator-quarterback pairing of Alex Van Pelt and Jacoby Brissett has left plenty to be desired. That is especially true in the passing game, where any threat of a downfield attack has been only theoretical in nature.
The numbers speak for themselves: Brissett ranks 30th in the league in yards per attempt (5.3), while New England as a whole is dead-last with just four explosive passing plays of 20-plus yards. It is clear that something has to change if the team wants to turn its fortunes around and get back on track after starting the year 1-3.
Could that something be making a major trade acquisition, and bringing Davante Adams aboard from the Las Vegas Raiders?
A six-time Pro Bowler and one of the most productive wide receivers of his generation, Adams and the Raiders are headed for a divorce. Speculation about his future has been a constant for over a year now, but the team has maintained its stance that it would not part ways with a player it acquired from Green Bay in March 2022.
However, the Raiders have seemingly altered their opinion. They are now reportedly willing to listen to incoming offers, and to move on from a player coming off of four straight 1,000 yard seasons.
The asking price, according to a report by Adam Schefter of ESPN, is in the ballpark of “a second-round pick and additional compensation.” Whether any club will be able to meet those demands remains to be seen.
What can be said with some certainty, though, is that the Patriots should not be that club.
Of course, there are arguments for entering the Adams sweepstakes. Look no further than the state of the New England passing game as outlined above; adding a blue-chip player to the equation could be just the infusion of talent the unit is looking for. And make no mistake, the veteran wideout is just that: he would single-handedly make the Patriots a better team, and give Brissett a clear No. 1 to work with.
Additionally, the Patriots have the resources to pull off a trade. They have the assets to send to Las Vegas, and the financial potency to both absorb Adams’ current contract and rework the deal to bring his salary cap numbers in 2025 and 2026 down.
All of that is true, and yet New England would probably be smart to steer clear from an Adams trade. There is one simple reason for that: the Patriots want to be a “draft and develop” team.
Acquiring a soon-to-be 32-year-old wide receiver — especially given the Raiders’ reported demands — would run counter to this roster building strategy that has been publicized by the team pretty much since the start of the Jerod Mayo/Eliot Wolf era this offseason. Adams might be what the doctor ordered for the 2024 Patriots, but giving up a marquee asset like a high draft pick to get him would be too rich despite his qualities as a player.
Adding a player like Adams via trade would be a luxury for the Patriots at this stage in their rebuilding process — a luxury that, frankly, this team currently cannot, and should not, afford.