Raiders owner Mark Davis opened up about the wild week in Las Vegas that saw Davante Adams end up a member of the Jets.
While the departure of the Raiders’ top player certainly would be viewed as a tough event for most organizations, Davis told NFL.com that he didn’t see it as a hard week.
Simply put, Davis told the outlet that he is “used to it.”
“I’ve grown up in this sport,” he said. “There is the business side of the building and the football side of the building. The football side is tough love, man. I’ve seen my best friend … Cliff Branch, he had to retire. I’ve seen all of these guys, at some point in time they said I’ve got to hang it up or this or that. You get really tough, thick skin.”
Davis, who also saw Tom Brady’s partal ownership stake in the team approved last week, believes the locker room would also be OK with the departure of Adams.
The Raiders were hosting the Rams in their first game following the trade of the star wide receiver and appear to have lost quarterback Aiden O’Connell to a broken thumb.
“You’d have to be inside the locker room and you’d understand what the message is,” Davis said. “You’d have to ask them. But I’m confident that there are no issues. Yeah, I know the players are OK with it.”
The Raiders dealt Adams to the Jets for a 2025 conditional third-round draft pick and the move ends weeks of turmoil around Adams’ happiness in Las Vegas.
The trade that originally brought the six-time Pro Bowler to the desert occurred in 2022 when the Raiders sent a first and second-round pick to Green Bay in exchange for the three-time All-Pro.
It also had brought hope that the Raiders would be able to create championship chemistry between Adams and then-QB Derek Carr.
Carr, who Adams played with in college at Cal, signed with the Saints as a free agent in the offseason.
Looking back on it, Davis had a relatively simple explanation as to why things didn’t pan out.
“Unfortunate it didn’t work out. Only way I can sum it up,” he said.