Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams has reportedly told the team that he would prefer to be traded following a 2-2 start and in an offense that looks as if it may spread the ball out a bit more than usual among their receivers. Adams is one of the great receivers of this generation and would likely garner a good deal of trade interest if the Raiders do make him available.
The cost to trade for Adams at the moment would be $13.526 million. That number would drop by $968K each week that Adams’ remains on the Raiders roster. 11 teams in the NFL have the cap space necessary to make such a trade including the Jets, Cowboys, and Browns.
The trade compensation would be interesting. Years ago Julio Jones went for a 2 and a 4/6 swap. Jones had more realistic time on his contract when the trade with the Titans occurred (Jones was under contract for three years) as Adams contract is structured as more of a 1 year deal. Adams salary in 2025 is not guaranteed and balloons up to $36.25M that year. He has the same salary in 2026. When the contract was negotiated the 2025 and 2026 salaries were only included to boost the annual value of the contract and were considered unlikely to be earned.
The Raiders could also be asked to pick up most of Adams’ salary in a trade and ask for more compensation in return. That might be more along the lines of a 1st round pick or 2nd and 3rd type situation. That would open the door for teams like the Bills to get involved in trade discussions and likely give the Raiders much more leverage in trade talks.
From the Raiders perspective a trade probably makes sense. Last year Adams led the team with 175 targets with the next closest players at 106 and 54 respectively. Prior to missing a game Adams was still on pace to be the top target for the team but the margins were thinning and the addition of TE Brock Bowers has given the Raiders another passing threat to siphon a significant share of the workload. The Raiders are basically in QB purgatory right now playing out the string with journeyman Gardner Minshew until they can turn the page and find their way into a legit potential young star. A high draft pick for Adams could help them try to secure such a player. Given the nature of Adams contract with the high salary in 2025 odds are they would be cutting him next year for nothing in return.
The Raiders cap charges if they traded Adams would currently be $11.693M in 2024 and $15.7M in 2025. The 2024 number increases by the $968K mentioned above for each week Adams remains a Raider.