Adams and Jones deals signal a new era in Raiders football

Derek Carr may or may not have been trying to talk a reunion with Davante Adams into existence last month.

But the manner in which he spoke about the possibility of a contract extension with the Raiders and the way he made no secret that “there’s also some football players that I want to play with,” it was obvious he wanted to make sure his deal left enough room to add some much-needed roster help.

A Carr contract extension is now imminent. The only question is when it officially gets done. And with it, the certainty that the next chapter of his Raiders career will include Adams, who the club boldly traded for on Thursday and then immediately awarded a five-year, $142.5 million contract.

The Raiders made the deal official on Friday. Adams and the Raiders reserved comment on the acquisition until next week. The deal makes Adams the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL.

In many ways, Carr got exactly what he bargained for. But it goes so much deeper than that.

The Raiders’ decisiveness in trading for a player the caliber of Adams and the move they made one day before in stealthily snagging pass-rush monster Chandler Jones mark a decisive change in the Raiders’ world. It firmly re-establishes them as a bold player in the NFL.

One capable of creating positive shock waves across the league. As one NFL executive speaking on the condition of anonymity said Friday, when the news broke about the Raiders trading for Adams, the public setting he was in at the time curtailed his response.

“I didn’t say what I wanted to say. Which was, WTF?” the executive said.

The rest of the league should get used to it.

Now firmly entrenched in their new home in Las Vegas, replenished by the financial boost of Allegiant Stadium and a secure future that stretches as far as the eye can see, the Raiders can once again compete financially and in clout with the premiere franchises in the NFL.

It’s a manifestation of the vision and promise of owner Mark Davis, whose decades-long fight for a new stadium was motivated by a wish to restore the Raiders to a place of prominence.

The key all along was securing a modern stadium that could create all the necessary revenue streams that his colleagues across the league were able to tap into.

All of that is now in place, and true to his word Davis is re-investing the available new money directly into his team. That includes the successful run the Raiders made to secure Josh McDaniels, who had declined various overtures over the years, as their coach and the highly respected Dave Ziegler as general manager and Champ Kelly as his assistant.

As an NFL executive succinctly pointed out, in order to win in this league “you have to get and pay great players. Being decisive on big ideas is the only way you win. Have to do it.”

Davis and the Raiders are doing exactly that, in a way that mirrors what the Rams are doing in Los Angeles. Remember, the Rams never operated so boldly and decisively during their last decade in St. Louis. The 12 straight non-winning seasons they suffered through are painful reminders of an operation that had gone stale.

Then came the move to Los Angeles and the promise of a lucrative new market and the financial rewards of SoFi Stadium. All of a sudden the Rams morphed into a franchise that reflected its big-city surroundings and financial might.

What was once a mediocre franchise is on a five-year run in which it has won a Super Bowl title, two NFC championships and made four playoff appearances.

The Raiders could be on the verge of a similar renaissance. Their moves the last three days — and the strong implication that more are on the way — have vaulted them into legitimate Super Bowl contention. The offense features Carr and game-changers in Adams and Darren Waller. A strong supporting cast includes Hunter Renfrow and Josh Jacobs. Defensively, Jones and Maxx Crosby create one of the best pass-rush tandems in the NFL.

There is still work to be done. But on paper, the Raiders are much improved from the 10-win playoff team of 2021. And in terms of perception, their recent actions have an entire league looking at them much differently today than at any point in the recent past.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.