Breaking: Raiders In Nightmare Scenario With $140 Million Star

Following an 8-9 season, the Las Vegas Raiders should be optimistic about their prospects for 2024. Antonio Pierce is now the full-time head coach, and prominent players include Christian Wilkins and Brock Bowers.

However, the Raiders will have a small margin for error. Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon identified the Raiders’ worst scenario for the 2024 season, which includes great wide receiver Davante Adams.

“Davante Adams continues to decline, two young elite tight ends proves superfluous, and their two backup-caliber quarterbacks perform like backup-caliber quarterbacks,” Gagnon wrote in his column on June 5.

Adams is the Raiders’ second most expensive player with a $25.3 million cap hit in 2024. He had 1,144 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in 2023, which are very good numbers, but are both the lowest he’s put up since 2019. Now, the Raiders had inconsistent quarterback play last season so that could be the reason for the dip in numbers. That said, the team still doesn’t appear to have a stable quarterback situation so it could remain unclear if his dip in numbers is due to him or aging or due to the quarterbacks.

Davante Adams Rated as 6th-Best WR in NFL

Despite not putting up big numbers in 2023, Adams is still largely regarded as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Sam Monson recently ranked the league’s wide receivers, and Adams landed in sixth.

“At 31 years old, Davante Adams is entering the gray area where we need to decide how much of his decline last season was due to age and how much to his quarterback situation,” Monson wrote in his column on May 21. “He still caught over 100 passes, although his average route run distance was about half a yard less than the previous year. His drop rate was higher, while his disputed catch rate was lower. He is still perhaps the best route runner in football.”

Adams was ranked No. 1 in the same rankings heading into last season so he did fall down a bit but he’s still an elite player. Adams’ dead cap hit drops from $40.4 million to $15.7 million next season so the team could have a tough decision to make if he continues to decline this season.

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Davante Adams’ Numbers Could Be Down Even if He’s Not on Decline

If Adams’ numbers continue to decline in 2024, that isn’t necessarily a referendum on him. The Raiders have a lot of mouths to feed on offense. Outside of Adams, the team has two highly-drafted tight end in Bowers and Michael Mayer. They also have Jakobi Meyers on the roster.

If the Raiders had an outstanding quarterback, he could get all of the playmakers’ numbers, but the team currently lacks a starting quarterback. This does not necessarily imply that the club will perform poorly on offense. The offense currently has a lot of solid pieces, but Adams will struggle to put up the same gawdy numbers he’s used to. If the Raiders win, there should be no problem, but if they struggle, Adams will quickly become frustrated.