The comments of Las Vegas Raiders star receiver Davante Adams about not seeing eye-to-eye with the front office on certain decisions that were made this offseason turned some heads. Many wondered whether there was friction between Adams and the Raiders’ brain trust of head coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler.
Adams has gone out of his way to ensure everyone that there are no issues, and he is happy and excited to be with the Raiders, even going so far as to post a picture on social media with Ziegler. As far as McDaniels is concerned, he also doesn’t see the issue with what Adams said.
According to Paul Gutierrez of ESPN, McDaniels believes players like Adams have earned the right to voice their opinion, and he doesn’t expect any player to agree with every decision he and Ziegler have to make:
“Those things happen, I’d say, all the time, where somebody may have a question or a comment or a discussion is had, and those are the right things to do, and those players have earned it,” McDaniels said. “And so, I have nothing but respect for anybody like that, that has a comment or an opinion like that.
“It’s not really my concern that anybody necessarily adopts every vision that Dave or I have for the decisions that we have to make. Sometimes those are difficult.”
As McDaniels said, there are a lot of difficult decisions that have to be made regarding the roster each and every year. These players build friendships and brotherhoods, and often times the decisions of the front office can see a close friend be released or traded away, as was the case with Adams and his close friend, former Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
But a player like Adams, who has done everything that has been asked of him and produced at the absolute highest level, should be able to voice his opinion, and he surely did so with the Raiders’ front office themselves as there were conversations between the two sides throughout this offseason.
Players may question certain decisions or choices, but if there is trust, then they will go along with it and hope that they don’t see what the front office and coaching staff do. Just because Adams doesn’t see it yet, doesn’t mean McDaniels and Ziegler are wrong, and it certainly doesn’t mean there are underlying issues within the Raiders organization.
