It may be Year 11 for Davante Adams, but he still gets excited about training camp.
"It feels like a quick offseason but then you get out here, start throwing it around a bit, it feels like it's been forever since we've had live reps and able to really go at each other and compete," Adams said Wednesday following the team's first camp practice.
"I love the competition part of it. We start getting able to go one-on-one and get back into our groove. … Getting our structure back together, it's a fun process. I really enjoy it."
He's enjoying this camp even more as he's back in a familiar offense that helped skyrocket him to becoming one of the best receivers in the league. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who joined the Raiders staff this offseason, has a close relationship with Adams from multiple seasons in Green Bay as wide receivers coach (2016-17) and pass game coordinator (2019-21). In 2017 with the Packers under Getsy, Adams led the team with 74 catches for a team-high 885 yards (12.0 avg.) and 10 touchdowns, earning his first of six career Pro Bowl selections.
"Having that familiarity helps and relaxes you a little bit," Adams said. "I'm not stressing as much, having to look at my notebook right before we run out on the field. I can focus on getting my body right, mind right, coming out and get ready to go have a good practice."
When a player reaches this point in their career, there's no doubt that part of their job is mentoring the young guys and helping them find their footing, but for the newer offensive players, and even some of the older ones learning Getsy's offense this season, Adams feels he can be one of the top resources.
"Learning a new offense from the beginning is always going to be tough – new formations, a bunch of formations, whole lot of plays. … To hear how comfortable I was with it, I think that it kind of calmed some of the guys down that were scrambling."
On top of learning a new offense, there's also a quarterback battle at play over the course of training camp.
Adams said for him, it's about more than just getting reps with the potential starting QB to learn how the ball comes out from their hands, but having conversations and building relationships. Most of all, he's pleased to see how the competition betters not only the quarterback room, but everyone of the team.
"Just really happy to be out here with the guys," Adams said. "Happy to watch Aidan [O'Connell] and Gardner [Minshew] go at it and really just put their best tape together. They're not even battling each other. It's Aidan versus Aidan, Gardner versus Gardner, me versus me, Kob [Jakobi Meyers] versus Kob, that's just how it is on this team.
"We're not battling with one another other than across the ball. Obviously we're going to have our battles, but within each position group, it's just going out there trying to put together the best tape."
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The Las Vegas Raiders hit the field for the first day of 2024 Training Camp practice.