This off-season, Davante Adams, arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL, was traded from the Green Bay Packers to the Las Vegas Raiders. The trade reunited Adams with his Fresno State teammate, Derek Carr. Adams has spent eight seasons in the NFL, all with the Packers. The talented pass catcher has played in 116 games and amassed 669 receptions on 1,012 targets for 8,121 yards and 73 touchdowns. He has been named to five Pro Bowls (2017-2021) and was a First-Team AP All-Pro in 2020 and 2021. Now that Davante Adams has switched teams and quarterbacks, what is his 2022 fantasy football outlook?
2022 Fantasy Football Outlook: Davante Adams
2021 Recap
Last season Davante Adams was named to a fifth straight Pro Bowl and received First-Team AP All-Pro honors for the second straight season. In 16 games he had a career-high 123 receptions on 169 targets, for a career-best 1,553 yards and he added 11 touchdowns. Adams averaged 21.5 fantasy points per game in 2021 and finished the season as the WR2 in fantasy football.
2022 Outlook
The biggest question fantasy managers and fans have, is whether or not there will be a drop-off in Adams’ production because he will now be catching passes from Derek Carr instead of Aaron Rodgers. And Adams will have to learn a new system under Josh McDaniels, who is entering his first season as the Raiders head coach.
While Carr is not Rodgers, Carr has been a really good quarterback for the Raiders. He has made three Pro Bowls and in 2021 he threw for 4,804 yards and 23 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. The 14 picks were a career-high for Carr. If he can limit the turnovers and get his interceptions back into the single digits, that will bode well for Adams.
Also, Adams acquitted himself quite well in eight games in 2017 when Brett Hundley was under center. Sure, that is a fairly small sample size, and again Carr is not Rodgers, but Carr is much better than Hundley. And Adams did prove he is good enough to produce with a quarterback who does not have close to the talent of Aaron Rodgers. Also, Matt LaFleur (will he be the X factor for the Packers offense this season?) took over as the head coach of the Packers in 2019 so Adams had to learn a new system at that time, and it was not an issue.
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Josh McDaniels proved himself on the offensive side of the ball as the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. The question will be if he can parlay that into being successful in his second NFL head coaching stint. But, as it pertains to Adams, at least McDaniels has shown he has a great offensive mind and he will know how to best utilize Adams.
Fantasy managers should also take into account the fact that the Raiders play in the AFC West with the Denver Broncos (acquired Russell Wilson this off-season and have a lot of offensive weapons), Kansas City Chiefs (Patrick Mahomes will continue to sling it even without Tyreek Hill; here is Hill’s fantasy outlook for 2022) and Los Angeles Chargers (Justin Herbert was very impressive in his first two seasons and he could be even better in 2022; here is his fantasy outlook). The Raiders will play each of those teams twice this season and every one of those contests could easily be a shootout. Las Vegas also has other teams on their schedule which could produce some offensive fireworks, including the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. There is a good chance that fans and fantasy managers see passes from Carr to Adams early and often this season.
Average Draft Position
Per FantasyPros, Devante Adams’ average fantasy football draft position is 10th overall and a top-four wide receiver. According to CBSsport.com, Adams’ average draft position for 2022 is 26 and the seventh receiver. Fantasysp.com shows Adams as the fourth wide receiver off fantasy draft boards and him being drafted at 11.73 on average. It will be interesting to see how, if at all, the move to Las Vegas impacts Adams’ usage and numbers in 2022. But he is still one of, if not the best, receivers in the NFL.
Main Photo
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