National Football League

Can Gardner Minshew keep star WR Davante Adams happy with Raiders?

Published Sep. 20, 2024 7:06 a.m. ET

Gardner Minshew emerged from a quarterback battle with Aidan O'Connell during training camp for the Las Vegas Raiders as a starter on a short leash.

And through two games, Minshew has shown glimpses of a QB who can extend plays with his feet. In Week 2, he helped to lead the Raiders to a stunning comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens on the road to even their record at 1-1.

Minshew is tied for second in the NFL with 533 passing yards and leads the league in completion percentage (77.5%). He has tried to keep things simple, finding talented pass-catchers Davante Adams and rookie tight end Brock Bowers as often as possible and feeding them the football.

Adams totaled nine catches for 110 yards on 10 targets last week against the Ravens, most of his production coming in the fourth quarter as the Raiders scratched back from a 10-point deficit. Adams had four catches for 86 yards in the final quarter and also drew a crucial pass interference penalty in the end zone that led to the game-tying score. The Raiders' 26-23 win broke a string of 49 straight losses when they trailed by 10-plus points in the fourth quarter.

Following Adams' big game, Minshew and the Raiders need to figure out how to keep the veteran receiver happy. After pairing with Aaron Rodgers for eight years in Green Bay, Adams has caught passes from five different QBs since joining the Raiders via trade in 2022: Derek Carr, Jarrett Stidham, Jimmy Garoppolo, O'Connell and now Minshew.

During the offseason, trade speculation involving Adams percolated throughout the league because of the team's struggles and the instability at the quarterback position. Back in July, Adams' representatives tried to quell talk that the six-time Pro Bowler was unhappy with the Raiders, saying it was unfounded speculation and that he expected to remain with the team in 2024.

Adams confirmed that report just before the regular season.

"In terms of me being upset or not being happy in this organization, it's just a bunch of BS meant to throw everybody off and get clickbait," Adams told reporters. "Everybody wants to see what Davante Adams has got to say, that he's pissed off in Vegas.

"If I was pissed off, I wouldn't be here right now."

Adams, 31, has two years left on his contract after this season at more than $35 million annually, none of which is guaranteed.

With the Raiders going through a rebuilding process, might head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco look to trade Adams before the Nov. 5 deadline? He could be very useful to a contending team, like with his former teammate Rodgers and the New York Jets.

Or Mike Tomlin and the surprising Pittsburgh Steelers.

Or Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers.

Or Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

Why Jets, Bills, Steelers could be a fit for Davante Adams

The Raiders are paying Adams among the top receivers in the league, so they might as well use him as much as possible — or find another team that will take advantage of his unique skill set.

Since arriving in Las Vegas in 2022, Adams has 11 games with at least 100 receiving yards and a touchdown, second in the league. And his 23 receiving touchdowns since joining the Raiders leads the league.

For now, it's on Minshew to keep Adams happy. The journeyman QB certainly has not been perfect. He's already been sacked nine times. Against Baltimore, he threw a head-scratching interception toward the end of the first half that led to an interesting conversation with team leader Maxx Crosby on the sideline.

"It was awesome," Minshew told reporters this week. "He grabbed me and just said, ‘Hey, we got your back, dude. We need that Washington State Gardner. We need that.' And I was like, ‘Man, you're right, dude. Let me see if I can go whip that up real quick.'"

Crosby's pep talk must have helped. In the second half, Minshew was 16 of 22 for 212 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions, posting a 118 passer rating. The Raiders scored 20 points in the half, including 13 in the fourth quarter.

Entering the season, Pierce had planned to lean on a strong defense and ground-and-pound approach on offense. So far, the defense has held up, allowing just 17.2 points per game since Pierce took over as head coach in Week 9 last season, second in the NFL. The defense has been even better at home, allowing a league-low 14.4 points per contest.

The running game, however, has been awful, with Las Vegas averaging a league-low 49 yards per contest this season. Against Baltimore, the Raiders abandoned an ineffective running game in favor of a quick passing game, which proved effective against a swarming Baltimore defense that finished with five sacks on the day.

Getting the ball out quickly is critical for Minshew. According to Next Gen Stats, he is 28 of 30 passing for 164 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions when throwing the ball in 2.5 seconds or faster.

That means Gardner must trust what he sees. And if Adams has man coverage, the QB has to get him the ball early so that one of the best receivers in the game can make a big play.

"Just throw him the ball when he's one-on-one," Minshew said. "That dude makes you right. And even a couple times getting pass interferences, those are huge plays for our offense. So, being able to give him opportunities for him to get his hands on the ball is going to be huge for us."

The Raiders have also found Adams a capable wing man in Bowers, whose 15 receptions for 156 receiving yards are the most by a rookie tight end in his first two career games in the common draft era. Adams and Bowers give the Raiders a dynamic pass-catching tandem to build an offense around.

It's up to Minshew to make that work as long as Adams remains on the roster.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.

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