Davante Adams Confirms One Trade Candidate That Wasn’t ‘On the List’

The New York Jets officially acquired Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday in exchange for a conditional third-round pick. This has been a long time coming. Adams likes Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers likes Adams. We all knew this was coming, and now Adams is set to make his Jets debut on Sunday.

That said, it wasn’t always 100 percent sure. There were other teams in the mix, such as the New Orleans Saints, led by Adam’s former college teammate Derek Carr. Or the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers, two bona fide AFC contenders with glaring holes at the wide receiver position.

Despite seemingly better teams on his radar, however, Adams opted for friendship and familiarity. The Jets kept their end of the bargain and probably made the best offer. The 32-year-old wideout essentially admitted that New York was his favorite landing spot during an appearance at Op & Adams.

Davante Adams reportedly wrote down four teams on the paper he gave to Raiders GM Tom Telesco: New York, Buffalo, New Orleans and Pittsburgh. No real surprises. This was all well reported. But Kay Adams took it a step further and asked if the Kansas City Chiefs, another WR-needy contender, were ever on his radar.

The All-Pro wideout didn’t mince his words.

“Negative,” Adams said. “That was talked about. I don’t want to say anything crazy, but the Chiefs were not on the list.”

There are several ways to read this deliberately vague and at the same time blunt comment from Adams. Chiefs were “talked about” there, so the concept was at least brought up to the Raiders front office at some point. But it was clearly never a serious possibility.

For starters, the Chiefs would never pick up Adams’ contract. Maybe it’s as simple as Kansas City never showed interest. Or we can read it as Adams harboring a grudge against the Chiefs organization. He went to court to fight assault charges after he pressured a videographer at Arrowhead Stadium in 2022. Or, perhaps most likely, the Raiders would never trade Adams to Kansas City. A transaction is a two-way street. Adams could have ranked Chiefs No. 1 on his roster, but that wouldn’t make it any easier for the Raiders to send him to a division rival.

Adams isn’t out of the AFC, but he’s at least out of the New York division. There’s a good chance the Raiders won’t cross paths with Adams in the postseason on their current trajectory. However, if Adams were in Kansas City, they would have to face him twice a season and potentially watch their former crown jewel battle a bitter rival for a Super Bowl.

There’s no fun in that.

The Chiefs thing never happened – probably before several reasons. Most of all, Adams just wanted to play with his friend again. The Jets aren’t even that good, but the chance to catch passes from Rodgers was all Adams needed to punch his own ticket out of Sin City. Let’s see how it all plays out on Sunday (hint: prepare for a crash and burn).