Wow. Not often you see these kind of moves. Davante Adams headed to the Raiders for first- and second-round picks.
It’s not often you see a player of this ilk moving during the prime of his career. I think of Marshall Faulk going from the Colts to the Rams. I think of in-season trades of Herschel Walker and Eric Dickerson. These kind of deals don’t happen often.
The Raiders are stuck in a division with three elite quarterbacks – Mahomes, Herbert, Wilson – but they’re not going quietly. Instead, they’re joining the arms race. Giving Carr one of the game’s top few receivers. Earlier they signed Chandler Jones. Will be crazy times in the AFC West.
I poked around with the numbers some. Since the merger, I see only five other instances in which a receiver put up top-5 receiving numbers, then moved to a new team in the offseason. It happened in the ‘70s with Harold Jackson, but that was an awfully long time ago. Muhsin Muhammad and Jarvis Landry moved after big seasons, but they were never Adams-type guys.
Antonio Brown got traded to these same Raiders back in 2019, but that was a different deal, with offseason drama leading to them releasing him before the season started. He ended up playing just briefly with the Patriots that year (with Josh McDaniels, oddly enough, as his OC).
The only receiver move sort of like this, I think is the trade sending DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona back in 2020. Hopkins put up top-4 numbers that year.
I think this kills any possibility of Hunter Renfrow continuing to put up the unlikely numbers we saw in the second half of last year. And I think we can file away the insane role Darren Waller has played at times in recent years. Carr and Adams played together at Fresno State before both were selected in the second round of the 2014 draft. (Let me workshop that and figure out if I can cook up a trivia question for the next few days).
Packers will be looking for a new go-to type receiver. If they can't find one who can do a decent replacement, it should lead to some prickly moments from Aaron Rodgers, which will be fun to watch.
On the chart below, I’m looking at offseason moves only. John Jefferson, Brandon Lloyd and Randy Moss switched teams during the season after big years, but they’re not mentioned.
| TOP-5 RECEIVERS SWITCHING TEAMS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Old tm | Old stats | New tm | New stats | Rk |
| 1973 | Harold Jackson | Phil. | 62-1048-4 | LAR | 40-874-13 | 2 |
| 2005 | Muhsin Muhammad | Car. | 93-1405-16 | Chi. | 64-750-4 | 33 |
| 2018 | Jarvis Landry | Mia. | 112-987-9 | Cle. | 81-976-5 | 18 |
| 2019 | Antonio Brown | Pitt. | 104-1297-15 | N.E. | 4-56-1 | 154 |
| 2020 | DeAndre Hopkins | Hou. | 104-1165-7 | Ariz. | 115-1407-6 | 4 |
| 2022 | Davante Adams | G.B. | 123-1553-11 | L.V. | ?-?-? | ? |
—Ian Allan