The Las Vegas Raiders are putting their best foot forward after a disastrous 2023 season. They fired head coach Josh McDaniels midway through the season and had one of the most embarrassing quarterback rooms in the NFL. While Antonio Pierce was able to salvage some kind of respectability, it does not change the fact that the Raiders woefully underperformed.
This is especially true on offense. Jimmy Garoppolo did not pan out; Bryan Hoyer performed as expected in his lone start (not well); and Aiden O’Donnell was average. Besides the quarterback position, Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams both had down years.
A Down Year for Davante Adams Is Something the Las Vegas Raiders Can Build On
In 2023, Adams played all 17 games, recoding 103 catches for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns. Now that would be a great year for any other wide receiver, but it was a down year by Adams’ standards. In fact, it was his worst statistical year since 2019.
During that 2019 season with the Green Bay Packers, Adams had 83 receptions for 997 yards and five touchdowns. Oh, and he only played in 12 games.
Between 2020 and 2022, Adams averaged 112 catches, 1,481 yards, and 14 touchdowns per season. He led the NFL in touchdowns twice in that span and set a Packers’ franchise record for receiving yards in a season.
So, as crazy as it sounds, 103 catches for 1,144 yards and eight touchdowns is, literally, a down year for the six-time Pro Bowler.
But it is a down year the Raiders can build on, and they proved that they are planning to by hiring/retaining three of his former coaches from his days in Green Bay.
Las Vegas Raiders Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsy
Obviously, the biggest name is that of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who was Adams’ wide receivers coach from 2016-17 in Green Bay. Prior to that, he was an offensive quality control coach with the Packers from 2014-15. Adams, of course, was drafted in 2014.
2016, by the way, was the year that Adams took the next step in his NFL career. Prior to that season, he had a combined 88 catches for 929 yards and four touchdowns. In 2016, he had 75 receptions for 997 yards and 12 touchdowns. The next season, he made his first Pro Bowl.
As bad as the Raiders have been over the past two seasons, it has not been because of Adams. With the coaching changes and the quarterback instability, it was important for the Raiders to absolutely hit on their choice for head coach. They hired Pierce after Adams vouched for him, and then they went out and got Getsy, who knows Adams’ game just about as well as anyone to run the offense.
Las Vegas Raiders Wide Receivers Coach Edgar Bennett
Wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett has been with the Raiders since 2018. Before that, though, he spent a long time with the Packers, the team he won the Super Bowl with as a player in 1996.
Guess who the wide receivers coach was in Green Bay when Adams was drafted into the NFL? That would be Bennett.
Guess who was the Packers’ offensive coordinator who saw Adams take the leap from drop machine to Pro Bowler? That would be Bennett.
And, of course, Bennett coached Adams to arguably his second-best statistical season in 2022 when he had 100 receptions for 1,516 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The Bennett-Adams coach/player relationship has worked well in the past, and the Raiders were wise not to mess with it.
Las Vegas Raiders Senior Offensive Analyst Joe Philbin
Philbin has not spent as much time with Adams as Getsy and Bennett, but the former Miami Dolphins head coach was still the offensive coordinator of the Packers in 2018, a year that saw Adams put up 111 catches for 1,386 yards and 13 touchdowns. At the time, it was his best season to date.
Philbin actually has a longer history with the Packers that predates Adams’ days there. He was first hired as an assistant offensive line coach in 2003. From 2004-05, he was the tight ends coach/assistant offensive line coach, and then in 2006 he was promoted to offensive line coach.
Then, in 2007, the Packers promoted him to offensive coordinator. He held that role from 2007-2011, which means he oversaw the transition from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers (2008) and won a Super Bowl with them (2010).
The Dolphins hired him as their head coach in 2012, a job he held until 2015. From 2016-17, he was the assistant head coach/offensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts.
Packers head coach Mike McCarthy brought Philbin back as offensive coordinator in 2018. After McCarthy was fired toward the end of the season, Philbin served as interim head coach. Current Packers head coach Matt LaFleur did not retain him.
Philbin has spent last year with Ohio State as an offensive analyst after three seasons as the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line coach. Of course, McCarthy was the one who hired him there.
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