Raiders’ anticipation growing for Derek Carr-Davante Adams II

In the longest lead-up to opening day that Derek Carr and Davante Adams can remember, the anticipation of finally getting back on a football field together has reached epic levels.

So too has the curiosity about what the addition of Adams means to the Raiders, especially coupled with fellow playmakers like Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow and Josh Jacobs in an offense now led by new Raiders coach Josh McDaniels.

“We’ve been working for a while,” said Adams. “We’ve been working longer than anybody at this point. We started almost at the beginning of April.”

While they have a pretty good idea of what might be possible, they really won’t know until they hit the field on Sunday against the Chargers.

So the waiting game continues. And the curiosity.

“I mean, we just expect to play good football, sound football,” Carr said. “Trust our rules, all those things, and try and do as right as possible and see where that takes us.”

The anticipation of something memorable is growing. “It’s definitely going to be fun to see all the work we put in kind of get put together as a masterpiece,” Adams said.

He isn’t predicting anything, mind you.

“That’s the way we’re hoping, at the least,” Adams said. “Obviously, we’ve got a lot of great personnel, but nothing’s promised so we just got to get out there.”

Hence the fascination of what might happen on Sunday against a Chargers team many are talking about as Super Bowl contenders.

Adams isn’t just one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, he’s also Carr’s best friend going back to their college days at Fresno State.

The window the Raiders opened by reaching the playoffs last year, coupled with his personal link to Carr, was the motivation behind Adams’ move from Green Bay to Las Vegas. His arrival instantly lifts an already loaded Raiders offense to potentially prolific levels.

But it’s all just talk until they actually get on the field.

“This is kind of going to be … not a dice roll, but we haven’t been together as all the one’s out there together yet,” Adams said. “So it’ll be fun. We’ve been doing a lot of good in practice now, so it’s just time to put it all together.”

While the Carr/Adams dynamic is a compelling component both nationally and among Raiders fans — the last time they played together was in the Las Vegas Bowl against USC in 2013 — the two have remained close over the years. They not only maintained a personal relationship but a working one, too.

“We’ve been doing this for the last 13 years. Whether it was in college, or we still train together in the Bay Area,” Carr said. “We’ve been doing it for months here at the facility. And so, to us, it’s back to normal, that feeling. But I think for everyone else, the excitement of it – I’m sure I’ll throw him a ball, he’ll get a catch or whatever, and everyone will be like, ‘Oh my gosh, here we go.’ And to us, it’ll just be the next play.”

And that extends beyond Sunday’s season opener, of course.

“Whatever we do in the first game, we’re going to go watch film, make the corrections, and then just try and get better as the year goes,” Carr said. “There’s no certain expectation of this or that.”

Keep in mind when Carr had Adams to throw to at Fresno State in 2012 and 2013, he amassed 9,187 passing yards and 87 touchdown throws. In those same years, Adams had 233 receptions for 3,031 yards and 38 touchdowns.

That is astounding production on any level. That Adams grew into one of the best wide receivers in the league during his years in Green Bay and Carr has hovered among the top tier of quarterbacks in the NFL has created lofty expectations for their reunion with the Raiders.

Maybe those expectations will be met. But Carr and Adams are focused on a bigger goal. So expect the ball to get to Adams organically rather than forcefully,

“The thing to us is like we just want to win the football games,” Carr said. “So, if that means that other people get the football, other people are going get the football. If that means he’s going get it, he’s going to get it.”

Having Waller and Renfrow in the fold forces defenses to make difficult decisions each week.

“If they want to take (Adams) away, well he has two other guys that have shown they can win football games,” Carr said. “Everyone at the end of the day is going to put his numbers up against what he used to do. And who knows what it’ll be. But what I do know is that we’re trying to win games, and whatever that looks like, is what it’s going to look like.”

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