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Davante Adams reportedly requests trade after Raiders coach Antonio Pierce appeared to endorse dealing him on social media

jason owens
Staff writer
·4 min read

It started with an Instagram like.

Las Vegas Raiders All-Pro Davante Adams fielded questions Tuesday morning about his head coach Antonio Pierce appearing to publicly endorse that he be traded. Hours later, Adams told the Raiders that he prefers to be traded, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vincent Bonsignore, meanwhile, reported that the Raiders are "growing open to the idea" of trading Adams and are "reaching out to teams to gauge interest in the veteran wide receiver." ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that the Raiders would consider trading Adams for a package that includes a second-round pick and additional compensation.

This has all surfaced since Pierce's digital response on Monday to a Sports Illustrated report shared on Instagram that Adams may have played his last snap with the Raiders. From the Instagram post, per SI's Michael Fabiano:

"Do not be surprised if Davante Adams has already played his last snap with the Raiders," Fabiano said. … "He could have played yesterday, but the Raiders are looking to deal him because they think they can get some value for him and they know they’re going nowhere this year."

Pierce liked this Instagram post from his personal account. Fabiano later shared screenshots of Pierce's like on social media.

Adams was inactive for Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns with a hamstring injury. On Tuesday he sat for an interview with Kay Adams on her "Up & Adams" show. They, of course, discussed Pierce's Instagram activity.

Kay Adams asked him "how soon" did he hear from Pierce after Pierce's Instagram like surfaced. As of the time of the interview, Adams said that he had yet to hear from his head coach.

"I haven't heard from him," Adams said. "I haven't talked to him. I don't really know exactly what that was about.

"Social media is a beast, so there's a lot of people out there that saw it and, you know, wondering what's going on and people are reaching out. Yeah, I haven't spoke to him."

Kay Adams expressed dismay that he hadn't heard from Pierce, then asked Adams if he does want to hear from him.

"Honestly, it's hard to comment on," Adams responded. "... It's one of those situations where I just keep my head down and keep doing my thing and let the chips fall where they may as it pertains to that.

"There's been no communication with anybody from the team since that became a thing. It's kind of just like the weekly 'what's up with Te' thing. There's always some sort of drama. At the end of the day, one seven doesn't create any of it. So people can say what they want. I'm just chilling trying to be the model for not stirring the pot. Just locking in and doing what I've gotta do."

As of the time of this post, neither Pierce nor the Raiders had made public comment about the situation.

The burgeoning drama is the latest in a Raiders season that's already been embroiled in it just four weeks in. The drama has largely involved Pierce, who's in his second season as the Raiders head coach and his first in a full-time capacity.

After a Week 3 loss, Pierce cryptically criticized "business decisions" made by players following a blowout loss to the Carolina Panthers, then doubled down on his comments the next day. In those news conferences, Pierce largely declined to take personal accountability for the poor performance of his team.

He did apologize for his "business decisions" comments after Sunday's win over the Browns.

"Probably started with me, with my comments, and I apologize for that," Pierce said, per ESPN. "Don't want to be a distraction that way but ... we just went to work each and every day. Things came out throughout the week and guys just never flinched [or] blinked."

Now Pierce appears to be pushing his best offensive player out the door on social media while remaining silent on the subject otherwise.