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Davante Adams is reportedly requesting a trade after Raiders coach Antonio Pierce appeared to advocate trading him on social media


Davante Adams is reportedly requesting a trade after Raiders coach Antonio Pierce appeared to advocate trading him on social media

It started with an Instagram like.

Las Vegas Raiders All-Pro Davante Adams answered questions Tuesday morning about his head coach Antonio Pierce, who appeared to publicly support his move. Hours later, Adams told the Raiders he preferred to be traded, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports.

Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, meanwhile, reported that the Raiders are “becoming more open to the idea” of trading Adams and are “contacting 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 come to light since Pierce's digital response Monday to a Sports Illustrated report shared on Instagram that Adams may have played his final snap with the Raiders. From SI's Michael Fabiano's Instagram post:

“Don’t be surprised if Davante Adams has already played his last snap with the Raiders,” Fabiano said. … “He could have played yesterday, but the Raiders want to deal him because they think they can get something out of him and they know they're not going anywhere this year.”

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

Adams was out of action in Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns with a hamstring injury. On Tuesday, he did an interview with Kay Adams on her show “Up & Adams.” They, of course, discussed Pierce's Instagram activity.

Kay Adams asked him “how quickly” he heard from Pierce after Pierce’s Instagram like popped up. At the time of the interview, Adams said he had not heard from his head coach.

“I haven’t heard from him,” Adams said. “I haven't spoken to him. I don’t know exactly what it was about.”

“Social media is a beast, so there are a lot of people out there who have seen it and are wondering what's going on and people are reaching out. Yes, I haven’t spoken to him.”

Kay Adams expressed dismay that he had not heard from Pierce and then asked Adams if he would like to hear from him.

“Honestly, it’s hard to comment on that,” Adams replied. “… 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 far as that goes.”

“Since this has happened, there has been no communication with anyone on the team. It's a bit like the weekly 'What about Te?' thing. There is always some kind of drama. At the end of the day, that’s not the case with One Seven. “Create everything. So that people can say whatever they want.

At the time of publishing this post, neither Pierce nor the Raiders had made any public comment on the situation.

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

After a loss in Week 3, Pierce cryptically criticized “business decisions” made by players after a blowout loss to the Carolina Panthers, then doubled down on his comments the next day. In these press conferences, Pierce largely refused to take personal responsibility for his team's poor performance.

He apologized for his comments about “business decisions” after Sunday’s win over the Browns.

“Probably started with me, with my comments, and I apologize for that,” Pierce said, according to ESPN. “I don't want to be distracting in this way, but…we just went to work every day. Things came out all week and the guys just never batted an eyelid (or batted an eyelid).”

Now Pierce appears to be taking to social media to sideline his best offensive player while otherwise remaining silent on the topic.

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