The Las Vegas Raiders’ offense struggled at times last season as they had to work through numerous hurdles. Wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was arrested for a fatal drunk driving accident and tight end Darren Waller suffered an injury.
That didn’t stop the Raiders from making a push to the postseason, as Derek Carr built a nice rapport with Hunter Renfrow. However, for this team to reach that next level, they needed to add some more weapons to the roster.
They went right to the top of the market to achieve that. Early in free agency, the Raiders made a trade with the Green Bay Packers for Davante Adams, who has turned himself into arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL.
Adams has made the Pro Bowl five consecutive seasons and in the last two, he has been a first-team All-Pro. Having Aaron Rodgers as your quarterback certainly helps, but Adams puts the work in to dominate in the fashion that he has.
That craft is worked on during countless hours of practice and drills. Waller took notice of the work ethic that Adams possesses and spoke about how much time he spent observing him during practice.
“I try to go get in the line with him in individual [drills] when they’re releasing, doing releases on the little tire man over there in the corner,” Waller said. “He’s working his little double-hand swipe, windshield-wiper off the line. I don’t know, it’s just like, you know what release he’s going to do — the little split with the shake — but it’s just so smooth, and quick, and effective. And guys are just about to shit themselves trying to stop it.
“And I’m over there in line just watching him, or if it’s in a team drill and I’m not in and he’s in, I’m just trying to be like, what is it about that that makes it so effective? And I don’t know man, it’s just a balance, a mindset of, ‘I’m running shit out here. Nobody’s going to make me move at a pace that isn’t my own.’”
Waller is already one of the best tight ends in the NFL. If he can learn things from Adams and take his game to another level, he will become an even tougher player for opposing defenses to slow down.
Carr had the most passing yards in a single season in his career in 2021. With Adams in the gold and a healthy Waller learning a thing or two from him, his statistics could reach another plateau during the 2022 campaign.
