Josh McDaniels – Davante Adams earned right to vent on Raiders

HENDERSON, Nev. — Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said Thursday that he had no issue with All-Pro receiver Davante Adams venting recently by saying he and the team did not see “eye-to-eye” on the direction of the franchise.

McDaniels said Adams, entering his 10th NFL season, has “an opinion and a voice because [he’s] earned it” over the course of his career.

“And I respect the hell out of anything that [he] would say or suggest or anything like that,” McDaniels said. “During the course of the process of trying to improve our team, which, I know where Davante comes from, he’s a competitor. He wants to win, and that’s really his sole focus and that’s what he does here every day. He’s here pushing himself, pushing his teammates. He’s been a tremendous leader again this spring for our football team.”

Adams, a six-time Pro Bowler who has also been named first-team All-Pro the past three seasons, was acquired in a blockbuster trade from the Green Bay Packers last spring and reunited with his college quarterback from Fresno State in Derek Carr.

Carr, though, was benched and left the team with two games remaining in the season and was released in February before signing with the New Orleans Saints.

The Raiders signed Jimmy Garoppolo to a three-year, $72.75 million free agent contract with $45 million guaranteed this offseason. Garoppolo, though, is coming off a right foot injury and has not been on the field for the start of OTAs. McDaniels would not say whether Garoppolo had offseason surgery — a source confirmed a report by The Athletic that he did — but said there were no surprises in the quarterback’s rehab.

Adams made his comments about the Las Vegas front office to The Ringer in an article published last week but posted a photo of himself with general manager Dave Ziegler the next day, his arm around Ziegler with a caption reading: “The man.”

“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.”

Adams is scheduled to meet the media after OTA practice later Thursday.