Davante Adams' frustrating 2023 NFL season continued in Week 8, when the Las Vegas Raiders were defeated by the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football. The superstar wide receiver recorded just one reception for 11 yards, despite being wide open on two deep balls that quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo overthrew out of his range.
Adams is having an extremely slow season for his alite standards, eclipsing 100 yards just once in eight games.
Former cornerback and current NFL analyst Richard Sherman has apparently taken notice of this, but he doesn't believe the wide receiver is the one who deserves most of the blame. It's not the quarterback either, but instead head coach Josh McDaniels.
Here's what Sherman had to say during a recent Undisputed appearance:
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"Davante is still getting separation. He's doing the things Davante Adams has done and he deserves better than this. Josh McDaniels keeps getting head coaching jobs and keeps not doing well with them. I wonder like, how are you guys doing this process?"
"Guys who have had success, coach Bieniemy had to take an offensive coordinator job at another team away from the team he's won multiple Super Bowls with just to prove that he's a good coach, and he shouldn't have to do this. Josh McDaniels had a terrible record in Denver, got hired again by the Raiders, and has a terrible record still."
Sherman isn't wrong about McDaniels' history as head coach. Across two years with the Denver Broncos, he posted a disappointing 11-17 record. Now in his second season with the Las Vegas Raiders, he has been even worse with a 9-16 record, bringing him to 20-33 overall.
The defensive back-turned analyst also pointed out that Adams is still playing to his usual level of dominance on the football, but the Raiders' deficiencies have been holding up his production. Sherman isn't the only one who feels this way, as several other former NFL players have chimed in with a similar opinion.
Former NFL players support Davante Adams despite his lack of production with Raiders
Along with Richard Sherman, other NFL players such as Dez Bryant and Robert Griffin III have also come to Davante Adams' support.
They also defended the superstar wide receiver, pointing out that he's far from the problem with the Las Vegas Raiders. Bryant and Griffin each did so from their personal X accounts.
Bryant said:
"Raiders wasn’t a bad team whenever Josh McDaniels got there. What Josh McDaniels doing to the Raiders is exactly what Chip Kelly did to the Eagles. Get Davante Adams outta there or fire McDaniels. My opinion."
Griffin said:
"Raiders should do Davante Adams a solid and trade him. He deserves it. He came there to play for his favorite team, they got rid of the QB he came there to play with and he has 1 catch tonight. Don’t subject him to anymore of this dysfunction."
As RGIII mentioned, Adams wanted to join the Raiders to team up with Derek Carr, his quarterback from his college football career at Fresno State. The tandem lasted just one season together before Carr departed for the New Orleans Saints.
After downgrading to Jimmy Garoppolo, with whom Adams has no previous chemistry, it's no surprise that the Raiders have taken a step backwards this year as they continuously fail to take advantage of one of the best wide receivers in the entire NFL.
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