Adams’ ‘Receiver’ recap: What Raiders star revealed on Netflix show

Davante Adams got so frustrated with football last season he didn’t even want to watch games on television.

That was one of the revelations of the new Netflix series “Receiver,” which features behind-the-scenes footage of Adams and four other NFL pass catchers from the past year. The show was released early Wednesday morning.

Adams was frustrated on the field several times last season as the Raiders’ offense struggled to click, especially early on. He said during his drive home from the team’s season’s finale on Jan. 7 it was difficult for him to enjoy the game at times. He said there were times he struggled to turn on the TV to watch other football games, even after Raiders’ wins.

“It was tough,” Adams said. “It’s hard because I love football so much so it’s tough to sit there and not even want to watch a game based on the way our situation was going.”

Adams also had happy moments throughout the series.

He was shown hosting a birthday party for his daughter and visiting Taco Bell headquarters to try experimental menu items.

The show also dealt with the Raiders’ midseason coach and quarterback change. Adams was asked by the series’ producers what he thought of interim coach Antonio Pierce’s decision to bench veteran Jimmy Garoppolo in favor of rookie Aidan O’Connell.

Adams indicated he was consulted on the decision. He added there was a chance he would look to move on from the organization if things didn’t turn around.

“My opinion on that was that I signed off on it,” Adams said. “That’s just the reality of it. I love Jimmy (Garoppolo) and he’s a great guy, but something had to happen in order for us to have a chance down the stretch and for me to remain a Raider, in all honesty.”

Adams has been a vocal supporter of Pierce, who was named the Raiders’ full-time coach this offseason. The admiration is mutual.

The series reinforced those feelings.

New footage showed Adams was very sick before the Raiders hosted the Chargers on Dec. 14. Pierce said in an on-camera interview he was blown away by Adams’ decision to play that day given the team’s slim odds of making the playoffs.

The Raiders won their season finale against Denver at Allegiant Stadium two weeks later and celebrated in the locker room despite missing the postseason.

Adams said that probably would have upset him earlier in his career.

“We all went through a lot,” Adams said. “It was a very trying time, but we didn’t let it kill us. In Green Bay, we won so many games. We didn’t have the same adversity as I’ve dealt with the last two seasons here. It’s made me a little more appreciative of winning and that’s when you see some of the cigars and things popping out after the games. Things that maybe I wouldn’t have been on board with before but now once you have a whole new respect for winning, it makes you kind of just sit back and allow yourself to smoke a stogie and enjoy it and kind of soak it in a little bit, just realizing how hard it is to win in this league.”

The series’ early episodes focused on the shoulder injury Adams suffered at the beginning of the season and some of the huge hits he was taking.

At one humorous point in the show, Adams explained the extent of the ailment to his teammates.

Offensive lineman Greg Van Roten told Adams he dealt with a similar injury a few seasons earlier and was still dealing with the pain.

“Well, that’s comforting,” Adams quipped.

The eight-episode series is streaming on Netflix.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.