HENDERSON, Nev. -- First, the good news ...
Davante Adams is on pace for 92 receptions (which would be the fourth-highest total of his nine-year career) for 1,243 yards (also fourth-highest) and 12 touchdowns (third-highest) on 165 targets (second-highest).
The not-so-great news?
Something just seems, well, off when it comes to Adams in his first season with the Las Vegas Raiders, who picked him up in a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers in March. He's still striking fear into the hearts of opposing defensive backs, no doubt, but his 55.9% success rate on catches to targets is down.
Way down.
As in 21.3 percentage points down from his career-best rate of 77.2% in 2020 (and considerably down from the 72.8% he registered last season). It would be the second-lowest of his career, just ahead of the 53.2% he pulled down in 2015, his second year in the league.
Indeed, it's been a rollercoaster ride for Adams after being acquired for first- and second-round picks in last spring's draft and signing a five-year, $141.25 million extension with Las Vegas.
Because after getting targeted 17 times and hauling in 10 passes for 141 yards and a TD in the season opener, and being targeted a combined 47 times through the Raiders' first four games, he had just one catch for 3 yards in Las Vegas' most recent outing, a 24-0 loss at the New Orleans Saints. Granted, Adams missed two practices with illness the week of the game.
As Associated Press noted, it was the third time Adams had been held to fewer than 40 yards receiving in seven games with the Raiders, while Adams had three such performances in his last 56 games with the Packers. Since Week 15 of the 2015 season, Adams has played in 106 games, including the playoffs, and his two lowest single-game receiving yardage totals since then have come this season, the 3 yards against the Saints and 12 he had against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2.
His averages of 5.4 catches and 73.1 receiving yards per game this season pale in comparison to his career-best 8.2 and 98.1 yards averages of 2020 and are just ahead of his 5.3/63.2 marks of 2017, his first Pro Bowl campaign.
Indeed, much had been made all offseason about the reunion of Adams and his old Fresno State quarterback, Derek Carr, with the Raiders and their existing chemistry. Not enough was made, apparently, of the two reuniting in a new system for both of them under new Raiders coach Josh McDaniels.
Told this week that fans might have expected the Raiders, who were already returning a pair of Pro Bowl pass catchers in slot receiver Hunter Renfrow and tight end Darren Waller, to average 35-plus points per game, Adams was taken aback.
"I hope people didn't expect that," he said. "Just on the outside, I'm sure there was a little higher, more unrealistic expectations.
"You get game-planned for, and different things that we haven't worked together as a bunch for years, as I did in Green Bay. Obviously, I was there for a lot longer, so we [would] come into a new season with already having a decent plan of ways to beat double[-teams] and things like that. So, it's just a learning experience [here] and it's part of the growing process and we're trying to build up to get it to where we want to be ... We just want to keep building on that and finding ways to still win."
And to keep Adams producing, right?
Per ESPN's Receiving Tracker Metrics, which analyzes every route run and assesses receiver performance in three distinct phases -- getting open, contesting and making the catch, and generating yards after the catch, Adams is currently tied 39th in overall score (57) out of 98 pass catchers this season. He's tied with the New York Giants' Richie James and the New York Jets' Elijah Moore. This after finishing in the Top 3 in 2020 and 2021. To wit, Adams is currently behind teammate Mack Hollins, who is 17th with an overall score of 78.
Breaking it down further, Adams is ranked 18th in Open score (71), but 87th in Catch (39) and 38th in Yards After Catch (49).
And therein lies the issue, as in, that's what's been off --- Adams is still getting open but, with a familiar QB in Carr and a new playcaller in McDaniels, Adams' catching rate is under-par for him as is his YAC, per ESPN's metrics.
Quarterback or coach? Coach or quarterback?
Coverages Adams and Carr have never seen before as teammates have played a part, they acknowledged. After all, the Mountain West Conference in 2013 is a far cry from the NFL in 2022.
"I mean, it is what it is," McDaniels said. "Look, there's only so many ways you can try to double[-team] somebody, but there's definitely a significant awareness on the defense's part to, I would say, put two defenders on [Adams], over the top, what have you, to try to prevent the ball from being thrown there quickly.
"This isn't the first time that I've coached with guys that get double-teamed or get some attention like that. So, playing good offense means being able to be productive doing a lot of different things ... We've done that in stretches this year, certainly didn't do enough of it at all in any phase on Sunday. But we've done that pretty much in each game at some time or another, and sometimes stretches longer than others, but we need to be able to do that more consistently.”
Consistency is key, along with not letting frustration get the best of him and the Raiders, who are 2-5 heading into Sunday’s game at the 2-6 Jacksonville Jaguars (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
"The ultimate goal is me being here to make things better and bringing me around the other guys that were here to make things better, and part of that is learning and adjusting," Adams said. "So, that's what we're trying to do."
That would be good news all around.