Following the Las Vegas Raiders‘ decision this week to bench Derek Carr in favor of Jarrett Stidham with two regular season games remaining, and Carr leaving the team (with permission) with the cited rationale of avoiding being a distraction, Raiders’ receiver Davante Adams spoke up in defense of Carr. Adams, who played with Carr in college with the Fresno State Bulldogs and signed with the Raiders as a free agent this offseason (and has criticized their offense at times), said then that Carr was “the reason that I came here in the first place.”
NBC’s Sunday Night Football Instagram account then put out a video of Adams’ comments. And Brandon Aiyuk, a receiver for the San Francisco 49ers (who face the Raiders Sunday) had quite the comment on that post, saying “Sit out this week, stand w yo guy!”
Shockingly, that led to Aiyuk (seen above in a Dec. 4 game) getting some backlash from Raiders’ fans. He told NBC Sports Bay Area he only intended that comment as a joke, though:
Brandon Aiyuk's Instagram comment encouraging Davante Adams to sit out was all in good fun 😅 pic.twitter.com/3Tj5cNqdet
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) December 30, 2022
Here’s more from Jennifer Lee Chan’s NBC Sports Bay Area story on this:
When Aiyuk was drafted by the 49ers in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, the rookie shared that he modeled his game after Adams — his favorite NFL receiver.
…“It was a little fun,” Aiyuk said. “I think people took it a whole different way. If you don’t have to play Davante Adams — I would love to not play Davante Adams. I’m trying to win a football game.”
…“If Davante Adams is not out there, I’m sure that would increase our chances by a lot,” Aiyuk said. “Especially for that team, and what he does for their offense, especially without their starting quarterback.
“That’s all it was. It was more a nod to Davante Adams, having some fun. But, you know, that’s Raiders fans for you.”
Regardless of Aiyuk’s intentions with his original comment, his “that’s Raiders fans for you” line probably isn’t going to boost his popularity with that fanbase any.
[NBC Sports Bay Area; photo from Sergio Estrada/USA Today Sports]
