Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Adams is a player who wants to win. He’s 30 now and hasn’t had a chance to get to the Super Bowl. With the Raiders seemingly headed in the wrong direction, ESPN’s Dan Graziano questioned in a June 30 column if the star wide receiver will want to stay long-term. If Adams ends up requesting a trade, there will be no shortage of teams interested in him. In a July 7 column, Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine pitched a trade that would send Adams to the New Orleans Saints for a 2024 first-round pick and 2025 third-round pick, which give him another chance to play with quarterback Derek Carr.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...f63f10fa&ei=56

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

The guy has a pretty huge contract. Idk if I’d want that mess. We have good WRs in house already. Especially if MT actually plays this year. I think it would be nice to have Adams. But maybe a too much of an investment in an area where we seem to be pretty strong.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Yet another example of lazy MSM reporters wanting to use the Saints as a patsy trade recipient to offload crazy high bad contracts for players that don't deserve it. Loomis hasn't fallen for it yet... and I doubt he will.

The same can said for the Pelicans, btw. What's up with these lazy sports writers?

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I would be willing to trade Thomas, Peat, Hill, Kamara, and Winston for Adams and Jacobs if the NFL would create a special exception to help us absorb the $100 million cap hit.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Couldn't trade parameters be set such that the offloading team takes on most of the cap implications? Not that there weren't be any with your trade scenario ...

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Once money has already been paid and prorates to present and future years I think it can’t be transfered and all hits immediately if the player is traded. Most in addition to their original signing bonuses, most of our players had their salaries the last few years converted to $1 million with $9-19 restructure bonuses. Another team can take on the salary but like i said the salary is $1 million. Another team could take on future guaranteed bonuses and future guaranteed salaries that are often applicable to new contracts, money that has not been paid yet, but that would be more of something Derek Carr has. I think most of our obligations are prorated bonuses like say a player signed in 2020 and restructed in 2021, 2022, and 2023 they may have 4 untransferable bonuses prorated across 2023 and 2024.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Maybe we could still trade for Hunter Renfroe. I could live with that. I don't think that Devante Adams isn't the answer to our receiver questions. Derek Carr is building good chemistry with Olave already. Let him build good chemistry with the rest of the WR's and get their timing down with the young bucks that need the reps.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Do we really need to use resources on another WR, especially now? I think we should wait to see how the balance of the squad looks behind Thomas, Olave, and Shaheed. Most of these vets are still going to be out there once training camp commences.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Zero … Zilch … Nada … Bupcus …

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I see what you did there. :p

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Pass. Good player. Not worth his salary at this point. Not a need position for the Saints. He should ask for a trade to a team with some cap space and one with a young talented QB like the Jags, Chargers or Panthers. He's getting paid but the Riders will continue to lose.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I'm not interested in this trade, but are there any players that you'd like to trade for? I was thinking that a DT might be the way to go.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I'd rather wait and see what we already have once "real" practice gets underway. I wouldn't want to waste a draft pick on a player via trade that may end up getting released anyway. We have four DT's right now in Bresee, Roach, Saunders, and Shephard that could be hard to replace on the final 53 as it is. We usually only carry four DT's.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I would be OK with trading Thomas and a 1st for Adams! With Adams, Olive, Sheed, our RB’s and new QB we are top five!!!

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Loomis might just jump on that deal. Thomas won't be here next year no matter how well he plays. Someone will pay him more than we will and I'd be happy with getting something for him now. But honestly, I don't think that he has any trade value though after coming off of a three year injury bug.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I believe this is a prove it year for Thomas. If he returns to anywhere near his previous form I would expect they jump all over a long term deal to keep him around. He'll only be a couple of years from breaking every record held by Colston and future cap space wouldn't be an issue. I believe that Thomas has even indicated he wants to stick around to work with Carr as long as possible. That's at least five years for Carr and probably longer.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

He owes the Saints .

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

And more importantly he owes it to himself, as do the Saints. He was robbed of almost three years of his career because of two freak, totally unrelated, on-field injuries and a case of mismanagement by the coaching and medical teams.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I believe the worse Thomas does this year, or the more he is injured, the more likely he is back in 2024. In the unlikely event that he returns to 2019 form there would be a bidding war for his services like Armstead or Williams and we might lose that war. But if he plays a few games, appears to have lost a step, fights with teammates, and then gets injured and undergoes microfracture surgery on both knees, we are likely to resign him in order to avoid the dead money cap hit, just like we have done with Peat and Winston when they have been injured or underperformed in supposedly make or break years. We face an $18 million cap hit of dead money for Thomas in 2024 but if nobody else is competing for his services we can likely retain him and keep the immediate cap hit to $11-12 million while pushing some of the dead money forward to future years, Loomis style.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I do not want to give him contract and then move the money to the future. Putting more money in an older/ often injured player may not be the best use of our limited cap money. If he wants to bet on himself with an incentive laden contract then great! If not then let someone else bet on him! He's tied into an affordable contract this year and I want to see him win the come back player of the year.

It may not be a popular opinion, but I don't think that the Saints would sign him back to another contract, no matter how well he plays. Of course, they would offer him another incentive laden contract and of course, he would probably turn it down to sign for top dollar elsewhere. I don't blame him. I would too.

Face it. He's coming off three years riddled with injury. He played well again last year before getting hurt and he's 30 now I believe. His best days are probably behind him and no one can call him reliable. I like him and I want him to have another pro bowl season, but I'm not guaranteeing him a lot of money again if I'm Mickey Loomis.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I expect Thomas to have a banner year and I fully expect the Saints, utilizing the ever expanding cap, to sign him to another long term deal. I expect Thomas to blow away all of the rest of Colston's receiving records over the next three seasons and retire as one of the all-time Saints greats. I plan on being there in the Dome when his name is added to the Saints Ring of Honor.

He was unlucky suffering those two totally unrelated injuries costing him time in his short career to this point. But, those were the ONLY two injuries. His body has taken on very little wear and tear over the last three years. He's basically still 27 years old in NFL years. There no reason why he can't continue to be an elite receiver for another six to eight years.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Loomis and Harley are going to continue to construct contracts in the exact same structure. That is their accounting principle to use the skyrocketing cap to maximize cap utilization. They are not going to change their philosophy in mid stride. Harley and Loomis have both said as much. It's how they have functioned and how they are going to continue to function for years to come.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Bako 🤯

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

My mind is not blown, it is resigned to this crap show. Crack addicts gonna do crack. Meth addicts gonna to meth. Opiate addicts gonna do opiates. Loomis and Hartley gonna bring back Thomas, Peat, Winston, Kamara, and Hill in 2024 and long beyond on annual restructures and all 5 will remain Saints well into their late 40’s because it will always be cheaper to restructure them than to part ways as long as they are restructured annually pushing more money back forever. At some point Loomis and Hartleys next innovation will be to negotiate taking cell samples from Peat and Thomas and splicing in HELA genes so that in some form they can live eternally in a test tube so we can carry their prorated money into the 2300’s and don’t have to take a $20 million cap hit in 2060 when when one of them dies at the restructuring table.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I'd take him for a 6th rounder if he would play for the league minimum. Otherwise its a pass for me.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Not sure the origin of this Fanatsy League trade rumor. Can only speculate but The Raiders probably want to move Adam’s contract for multiple reasons one of which is they don’t have a true starting NFL QB or from the look of last season an offensive that can utilize their talent. The Raiders have not had a great reputation for their ownership, front office and roster construction for some time.

Add to this McDaniels previous and current history as a head coach and aborted attempts does not instill confidence.

I think it’s fair to look at the ecosystem that McDaniels has had success in, Kraft, Belichick and Brady. Was the Patriots Offensive system in place a McDaniels design or Belichick? Was it over time a system that heavily influence not only by Brady’s skill set but by Brady’s actual collaborative input with and signed off by Belichick? McDaniels being the guy calling plays determined week to week primarily by Brady and Belichick.

There has never been any facet of the Patriots operations and game planning that does not run thru Belichick end of story.

The Raiders dysfunction last year was obvious and just what went on behind the scenes has only partially come to light.

As usual the Raider defense abysmal, ranked 31 out of 32.

On the offensive side of the ball in overall statistics ranked 27th overall.

After Carr was benched the offense performance was 0 for 2.

Some of the Raiders offensive issues probably stem from have to mentally play from the position knowing your defense will not help the offense in any way.

Where the Raiders offense and defense rankings ended the season last year to me falls in large part on the coaching staff.

Mark Davis and the team are cash poor, have dysfunctional leadership and an ongoing question mark on competency in the their coaching staff.

There are those that do not like the manner that the Saints front office constructs their roster and manage contracts. But I think The Benson family ownership, financial stability, the front office personnel and performance has been measured, consistent and successful by any reasonable standard.

We will never be media darlings, ranked objectively by the national media or by in game commentators. Often praising and making up reasons why teams we are beating, badly at times, by inference are the better team. That will not change and I could give 2 sh**ts less about their opinions.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

The cap is growing and getting bigger every year, except for covid, when the cap dropped substantially. Nonetheless, there is still a finite amount of money to spend, no matter what your spending limit. My point is that if we only have x amount of money to spend, then don't keep spending it on injured older players.

If we pay Thomas, then it needs to be an incentive laden contract, but I don't think he would bet on himself again, and would chase the guaranteed paycheck. I'm willing to bet on him, but if he's not willing to bet on himself, then neither am I. After being around rugby for 45 years, I've seen this same scenario again and again with players returning from an extended absence. Rarely do they find their groove again.

As we age the injuries come faster. While we are recovering we favor the injury and over work other body parts. He's 30 years old and hasn't played much in the last few years. Old age has derailed several come backs. I know, I'm one of them and I tried several times when I felt healthy.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Our WR room is not as strong as some like to think.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

It’s good on paper and if Thomas stays healthy (big if). If he’s not a go then it’s a bunch of young guys and Edwards.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

A bunch of young guys means olave a 1st round pick who nearly won rookie of the year and shaheed who who led the nfl in yards per target among receivers with at least 400 yards by a wide margin once he started to be utilized last year. Its possible that we could have one of the best 1-2 receiver duos in the nfl without Thomas.

I don’t see any reason Shaheed could not be the next antonio brown. He is bigger, faster, also went to a small school, also was projected as a late round pick or undrafted free agent, had far more yards as a rookie, far more yards per catch as a rookie than any season of browns career, did it with an inferior qb, and had a similar very high catch rate as a rookie. Shaheed could be a mirage or could turn into a role player but he might also turn out to be very elite, and the stats so far indicate thats totally possible.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

Certainly could happen. They also could hit sophomore slumps and struggle with a new QB. Without Thomas, saying it’s Edwards and a bunch of young guys is still an accurate statement.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I think Thomas is more likely to have 0 yards and less likely to have 500, 1000, or 1500 yards than Olave or Shaheed. So I think starting with Thomas’ availability is flawed. With Thomas, all we add is an extremely unreliable #3 option who could go down at any minute and has 3 years of rust. It would be like saying without a megatron comeback the Lions receiving core is just a bunch of young guys. If megatron actually came back, the young guys would start over him until he got benched or hurt. Without Thomas, which we almost certainly will be and probably are better off without, we still have a stronger receiving core than the defending super bowl champs.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

However, you want to put it I’m not going to argue over semantics. My statement was made not to throw shade at Olave or Shaheed (or rank them compared to Thomas). It was simply an observation that we do not have a lot of experienced depth at wide receiver outside of Thomas and Edwards. Tre’Quan possibly?

Your opinion of Thomas is widely know by regular users.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I feel better about them than you do. If Edwards replaces Thomas due to injury it is still an upgrade to what we've had the last few years. Most people expect Thomas to miss substantial playing time, and if he can play ten games then I consider that to be lagniappe.

Apparently, I'm of the few people who expect Edwards to breakout this season with his old QB DC4. Olave was already our number one receiver most of last season and looked great at OTA's this year.

Shaheed just needed to get healed, learn the play book, and be coached up a little. He was then elevated from the practice squad and was an immediate impact player while scoring touchdowns. He looks even more polished and, like Olave, he put on five pounds of muscle this offseason. And if we can finally move on from 3Q's fantastic blocking but poor production then we've upgraded.

AT Perry and Shaq Davis both have a good shot at the roster because they are very good athletes. It will probably come down to who plays special teams. Those last few spots need to make their way on the roster via special teams.

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I think my comment was taken as a bigger negative than I meant it to be. Olave has all the makings of a viable #1 guy. Shaheed was a great surprise pick up who had glimpses of greatness. I don’t doubt them.

I was responding to the comment “Our WR room is not as strong as some like to think.”

I think there is validity there. If Thomas is a no-show I probably would rank our WR group as middle of the pack for the league. If Thomas doesn’t play do YOU see us as having a top 10 WR group?

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints
 

I agree that if Thomas misses substantial playing time we are in the middle tier of WR's. But, we would probably still be at the top of the middle tier with our promising young athletes. It feels like having a healthy Thomas, Olave, and Shaheed, makes us a top five WR group though. Throw JJ and Moreau in there and it looks even better.

We've also got several promising role players waiting to step up if given an opportunity. I don't expect Edwards to get much playing time if Thomas stays healthy. Although, I do see him as the primary MT backup if he misses time. I about the young talent we brought in this year at WR. Don't forget that we found Shaheed last year and he had an immediate impact when he hit the field. So yeah, I'm pretty excited to see what DC4 can do with these young receivers!

Re: Proposed Trade Reunites Raiders’ $140 Million Star With Derek Carr on Saints