Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams pulled no punches when reminiscing on his time with the Las Vegas Raiders. During a recent interview at Rams training camp, the three-time first-team All-Pro was in high spirits, but delivered a brutal assessment of his time in Sin City.
Davante Adams Gives Damning Assessment of His Time With the Raiders, Dismisses Jimmy Garoppolo Beef
Training camp gives players and teams a chance to work on things ahead of the new season, but it’s also a chance for fans and the media to get closer to the league’s stars. Rams camp is no different, and Adams took some time out to share his thoughts and hopes for the year ahead.
Adams’ move to the West Coast this year has meant a reunion with Jimmy Garoppolo, a player he had a very public issue with during their shared time on the Raiders. However, speaking to Scott Kaplan and Beto Duran on ESPN Los Angeles, the receiver revealed that the pair’s problems were water under the bridge.
“I love Jimmy, and it was never a personal thing,” he said, “we got to catch up and get on the same page.”
Adams then blamed the atmosphere within the Raiders locker room in 2023 for his frustrations. McDaniels was known to have lost the locker room’s support by the time he was fired, prompting the team to celebrate with cigars following their first win without him.
“Obviously, that was just a dark moment in all of our lives; I think all of us were pretty miserable over there.”
Adams joined the Raiders via a trade in 2022, in which the team sent its first and second-round picks to the Green Bay Packers. The receiver was reunited with his friend and college quarterback Derek Carr, who had publicly campaigned for the move.
That season, Adams earned his third successive first-team All-Pro nod, after catching 100 passes for 1,516 yards and league-best 14 touchdowns. However, things would soon turn sour after the Raiders released Carr the following February.
Carr was replaced by Garoppolo and then-rookie Aidan O’Connell, with Adams again leading the team in receiving. Adams was known to be unhappy with the team’s decision to sign Garoppolo, going as far as to say so publicly in an interview with The Ringer months later.
The relationship between the two players didn’t get much better throughout the season, as the Raiders slumped to a miserable 3-5 record before head coach Josh McDaniels was fired. Adams got a long-awaited trade to the New York Jets midway through the 2024 season, before joining the Rams earlier this year.
Adams’ words should comfort Rams fans, given that starting quarterback Matthew Stafford has been struggling with a back injury. Garoppolo has provided adequate cover as a stand-in quarterback several times during his career, but a feud with Adams would hurt the team’s Super Bowl ambitions.
Los Angeles offers the receiver a shot at a ring, something he hasn’t had since leaving Green Bay three years ago. Adams, meanwhile, provides the Rams with an elite threat opposite Puka Nacua, something Cooper Kupp’s injury struggles had denied them in recent seasons.
