Las Vegas

Raiders

Adams has been reported to prefer a trade and Schultz now reports he has been “considering a trade request out of Las Vegas for weeks.” His contract makes a deal possible and with the Raiders not contending any time soon, a trade could be on the horizon. Adams also reportedly has a list of preferred destinations and the Jets are one of them. The Jets notably have Adams’ former Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and a reunion could be on the horizon.

This has the look of a situation we’ll be monitoring up until the trade deadline as the Raiders get a market together for their No. 1 wideout. Adams missed last week with a hamstring injury and has a 18/209/1 line in three games played this year. With Vegas clearly in a holding pattern as long as their quarterback play is this bad, it makes sense for both sides to move on ahead of the deadline. We haven’t gotten a real sense of which teams are interested yet but there are some extremely obvious fits out there and Adams’ $25.3 million cap figure to dance around. Adam Schefter reports the Raiders are asking teams for a second-round pick and “additional compensation.”

A source tells Bonsignore that the club has begun reaching out to other clubs to “gauge interest.” This has been a long time coming after the Derek Carr-Adams partnership was disintegrated by management following the 2022 season. It stands to reason that Adams will be the prize of the trading deadline, and the Raiders should probably cash in the 31-year-old for whatever they can reasonably get. Adams has a $25.3 million cap figure that other teams will have to work around, but we expect him to command a Day 2 pick at the very least.

Even though it didn’t help out his target volume any, Brock Bowers did play a season-high 81 percent of the snaps with Mayer out in Week 4. If Mayer remains away — and Pierce did not elaborate on the issue — it stands to reason that Bowers will continue to be an easy TE1 next week against the Broncos.

Mattison rushed five times for 60 yards in Week 4, but had 36% of the snaps to Zamir White’s 59%. White had 17 carries. This is not great news for White’s fantasy football viability this week, though at the same time the dreaded running back by committee might not hold enough for Mattison to have standalone value either. White probably falls closer to an RB3/FLEX, and Mattison probably is still just a desperation FLEX.

Bowers came back to Earth with just four targets in Week 3 and continued to slide down the TE1 rankings this week despite not having to compete with Davante Adams for targets. Jakobi Meyers led the Raiders with 10 targets and Tre Tucker saw six looks. Bowers was a distant third on the team in terms of receiving opportunities. Tight end is a nightmare for fantasy purposes and Bowers’ two-game skid shouldn’t send managers to the waiver wire just yet. He will still sit inside the top 12 at his position for Vegas’s Week 5 matchup with Denver.

Tucker operated as the Raiders’ WR2 with Davante Adams out. He finished second on the team in targets and yards while tying Jakobi Meyers for a team-high in receptions. Tucker scored his rushing touchdown on a trick play near the goal line. Gardner Minshew took the snap out of shotgun and handed it off to Zamir White who immediately pitched it to Tucker going in the opposite direction. Tucker narrowly beat multiple Cleveland defenders to the pylon for his second score of the season. If Adams misses Week 5 as well, Tucker will be on the menu as a WR5 versus the Broncos.

Turner has bounced between the Raiders’ practice squad and active roster since signing with the team as a UDFA in 2021. He was put into a slightly larger role this week with Davante Adams out. He was unable to bring in his only target but scored his first career touchdown on an end around in the third quarter. Turner could continue to see part-time usage if Adams remains out for Week 5.

Davante Adams tweaked his hamstring in practice on Thursday and was ruled out the following day. That teed up Meyers to step into a No. 1 receiver role and he did just that. The veteran wideout led Las Vegas in all receiver stats and earned a 42 percent target share. He gets another low-scoring matchup with the Broncos next week, but the volume boost is enough to keep him on the WR2/3 border if Adams is sidelined once again.

Minshew wasn’t asked to do much in this game. The Browns got out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter but Minshew returned fire with a touchdown scoring drive plus a field goal in the second quarter. Another 10 points in the third quarter built a lead that proved to be too much for the Browns to overcome despite scooping up a Zamir White fumble for a touchdown in the final frame. Both of Vegas’s touchdowns came on wide receiver rush attempts. They ended the day with 29 rush attempts that came from seven different players and just 24 throws. The game plan was to make sure Minshew didn’t lose them the game and it worked versus a hapless Browns squad. Expect a similar approach for their Week 5 matchup with the Broncos.