The Pittsburgh Steelers have the fifth-best odds to land Las Vegas Raiders star wide receiver Davante Adams in a trade, according to one sportsbook. Adams has denied rumors that he wants out of Las Vegas, but things could change if the Raiders and the offense continue to struggle.
Las Vegas had an embarrassing 36-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said some players made “business decisions” in the loss, suggesting a lack of effort.
“There was definitely some individuals that made business decisions,” Pierce said. “And we’ll make business decisions going forward as well.”
Adams, 33, is a six-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time first-team All-Pro. There have been rumblings that he wants out of Las Vegas, potentially reuniting with New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Adams was teammates with Rodgers in Green Bay for the first eight years of his NFL career.
The New York Jets are the favorites to land Adams with 1/3 odds, followed by the Kansas City Chiefs (4/1), Baltimore Ravens (5/1), Buffalo Bills (6/1) and Steelers (8/1).
“I’ll answer like this, if I’m going to be reunited with anybody, it would be Aaron, okay? But or be, you know, relocated, and be anywhere it would be with Aaron,” Adams said on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast in July.
“There was a lot of that stuff going on last year in the media and them asking, you know, ‘What are you going to do about this? Are you thinking about going here?’ and they talk about whatever without me even being involved in [the conversation]. And it ended up getting all the way to the point where it got in the locker room, and people was thinking that it was, you know, I was putting it out there to force (a trade). And I’m like, ‘Y’all just don’t understand man.’ You know, I hate to say it like this because it makes me sound like I’m trying to put myself on a pedestal..but when you’re the level, a certain level of player, it don’t have to come from you. And most of the time it’s not coming from you.”
Adams was recently asked by Kay Adams of Up & Adams about the possibility that he might want out of Las Vegas at some point, and he quickly shot that notion down.
“It’s funny that I have to say it every week for people,” Adams said. “Sometimes you just get to a point where you are secure enough in how you feel and who you are to where you just stop really worrying about what everybody is thinking all the time… At no point have I been voicing ‘I want to do this, or I want to do that.’ I’ve said millions of times if I want to do anything, I’d be gone by now.”
Steelers wide receivers Calvin Austin III and Scotty Miller stepped up in Sunday’s 20-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, but the WR2 position is still a major concern. Adams or another top-flight wide receiver could be potential options near the trade deadline. Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN floated two other names in a recent article — DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk.
“Where the Steelers’ offense is probably still a little short is at wide receiver, where George Pickens is the nominal No. 1 by default but is still working on being a consistently reliable part of the offense,” Graziano wrote. “The Steelers were active on the wide receiver market in the offseason — remember, they had a real chance to land Brandon Aiyuk had the 49ers not been able to extend him — and I expect them to continue to monitor the receiver trade market as the deadline approaches. Tennessee’s DeAndre Hopkins and Jacksonville’s Christian Kirk are two veterans who could conceivably become available and might be appealing to the Steelers if their teams continue to lose and fall out of the playoff race.”
