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Davante Adams is reportedly asking for a trade after Raiders coach Antonio Pierce appeared to endorse the trade involving him on social media

Vaseline October 1, 2024

It started with an Instagram like.

Las Vegas Raiders All-Pro Davante Adams fielded questions Tuesday morning about his head coach Antonio Pierce appearing to publicly endorse being traded. Hours later, Adams told the Raiders he would prefer to be traded, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports.

Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, meanwhile, reported that the Raiders are “open to the idea” of trading Adams and are “reaching out to teams to gauge interest in the veteran wide receiver.”

This has all come to light since Pierce’s digital response on Monday to a Sports Illustrated report shared on Instagram that Adams may have played his final snap with the Raiders. From the Instagram post, according to SI’s Michael Fabiano:

“Don’t be surprised if Davante Adams has already played his last snap with the Raiders,” Fabiano said. … “He could have played yesterday, but the Raiders want to deal him because they think they can get some value for him and they know they’re not going anywhere this year.”

Pierce liked this Instagram post from his personal account. Fabiano later shared screenshots of Pierce on social media.

Adams: “I haven’t heard from” Pierce

Adams was inactive for Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Browns with a hamstring injury. On Tuesday, he had an interview with Kay Adams on her show “Up & Adams.” They discussed Pierce’s Instagram activity, of course.

Kay Adams asked him “how soon” did he hear from Pierce after Pierce’s Instagram like surfaced. At the time of the interview, Adams said he had not heard from his head coach.

“I haven’t heard from him,” Adams said. ‘I haven’t spoken to him. I don’t actually know exactly what that was about.

“Social media is a beast so there are a lot of people who have seen it and are wondering what’s going on and people are reaching out. Yeah, I haven’t spoken to him.”

Kay Adams expressed dismay that he had not heard from Pierce and then asked Adams if he wanted to hear from him.

“Honestly, it’s hard to comment,” Adams replied. “…It’s one of those situations where I just keep my head down and keep doing my thing and let the chips fall where they may when it comes to that.

“There hasn’t been any communication with anyone on the team since that became a thing. It’s kind of like the weekly ‘how’s Te’ thing going on. There’s always some kind of drama. Ultimately, a seven isn’t like that.” make it something so people can say whatever they want. I’m just chilling to be the model for not stirring the pot.

At the time of this post, neither Pierce nor the Raiders had publicly commented on the situation.

More drama in Las Vegas

The unfolding drama is the latest in a Raiders season that is four weeks into it. The drama primarily involved Pierce, who is in his second season as the Raiders head coach and his first in a full-time role.

After a Week 3 loss, Pierce cryptically criticized “business decisions” players made following a big loss to the Carolina Panthers, then doubled down on his comments the next day. At those press conferences, Pierce largely refused to take personal responsibility for his team’s poor performance.

Now he appears to be pushing his best attacking player out the door on social media, while remaining silent on the subject.