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Davante Adams Q&A: Las Vegas WR talks Derek Carr, Aaron Rodgers, pregame superstitions

For eight seasons, Davante Adams caught passes for the Green Bay Packers from one of the most talented humans to ever play quarterback in Aaron Rodgers.

Four games into his Las Vegas Raiders tenure, Adams says he hasn't skipped a beat. It helps that he and Raiders quarterback Derek Carr played together at Fresno State and have remained close since.

"It’s always good when you can be reunited with an old, good friend," Adams told USA TODAY Sports. "I wouldn't call it an old friend because we maintained (a friendship), still been able to spend a lot of time together, get our families together throughout the years.

"It’s been fun, just based off of that connection we have off the field. It helps us on the field, being able to be closer and understand each other. We obviously are both big students of the game and put a lot into our craft. It helps, being able to be close, in the conversations we have, whether it be on the practice field or the game field."

Carr, Adams and the rest of the starting offense eat breakfast together every day they are in the Raiders facility and review what they will install into the week's game plan during practice that day.

Adams said first-year head coach Josh McDaniels has created a collaborative environment in meetings to held Adams pick up the offense quicker.

"So it’s a pretty open floor, and a lot of time for us to communicate and get on the same page," said Adams, who has three touchdowns and 290 receiving yards on 26 catches.

Through his partnership with Tide, Adams spoke with USA TODAY Sports about a variety of topics, from locker room superstitions to the impact Rodgers left on him and what it's like to be one of the smoothest route-runners in the league.

Questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Davante Adams gains yardage during the Raiders' Week 4 win against the Broncos.
Davante Adams gains yardage during the Raiders' Week 4 win against the Broncos.

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USA TODAY: What has the adjustment changing teams been like?

Davante Adams: It’s been good. I’ve enjoyed getting to know a whole new team, basically, a whole new coaching staff. I’m still learning a few of the names as we go along, because right when I get here, I got a whole new playbook to learn, get adjusted with the scheme and everything. It’s never going to be easy. But it’s been as easy as it could be just based off the people that I’m dealing with day-to-day. So that’s made it really enjoyable.

USAT: Is that the hardest thing when you’re learning a new offense: the terminology?

DV: Yeah, this offense is pretty complex. Definitely the most complex system I’ve been a part of. You can’t just be anybody. You got to be tapped in, or you got to spend a lot of time anticipating – if you want to really know what you’re doing in this offense, at basically any position. A lot of moving pieces. But once you get really comfortable with it, and everybody knows their job and their role in the offense, it can be a pretty dangerous offense. So we just got to get to the point where we’re maximizing all of our opportunities.

USAT: The art of the release off the line of scrimmage. How much work do you put into that craft, and what is the most rewarding part of a good release?

DV: The best way to work it is by using your releases consistently. A lot of guys ask what drills I do, and I do drills, but at the end of the day it’s about going out and feeling comfortable and doing them in the moment. You got a go route, you got an in route, or whatever it is, use the best release that you can for that route and get into your route.

The most rewarding part, I guess, is once you have a good release, is that you can now do your route without being disturbed at the line. Now you can run your route cleanly and make it look as good as possible, almost as if you had nobody on you. You got a guy hanging all over you, it’s hard to run a curl.

USAT: What’s your favorite route to run right now?

DV: I don’t know if I can give you one route. Obviously, I love a go route, because if you get a really good release on a go, that’s when you end up with (a big gain). I love the slant obviously as well. Anything I can kind of use my release and be able to burst and get the guy moving, that’s something I’m going to pick.

USAT: Who are you keeping in touch with from your time in Green Bay and are you keeping tabs on their season?

DV: It’s hard not to. Leaving there, it seemed like all people were talking about. It’s all that I get tagged in. But yeah, I’ve definitely been monitoring what they’ve been doing. Happy that things are going their way and definitely still keeping in touch with the guys I was close with.

USAT: I'm sure one of those guys was Aaron. What did you learn most from him?

DV: Just his presence alone will make you lift your level of play. Every so often in OTAs, he wouldn’t have to practice or wouldn’t be out there, and you notice the level of play slipping a little bit, guys not being quite as on it. That says a lot about the type of player that he is. The type of guy that he is. That he can hold people accountable simply by being present.

USAT: Tell us about your partnership with Tide.

DV: Partnering with Tide to give away signed, jersey, cleats and super bowl tickets in exchange for people washing their lucky jersey, which we acknowledge is not easy to do, based off some of the superstitions people have out there. But yeah, that’s basically a quick overview of what we’re getting after.

USAT: You have any superstitions or piece of equipment you have to put on a certain way?

DV: Yeah, I had a lucky jersey when I was young, and I had to go through the same thing – washing one. I kind of abused this jersey that I was using, wearing all time time. It got to the point where it was basically lucky, but definitely dirty. So we had to take care of it. But now, I definitely – I don’t even know if I would call it a superstition, but I guess it would be a little bit of one, kind of like one. I wear the same wristband on my left forearm every game.

I also have a little bit of a superstition before games. If it’s an early game, I got the same scramble that I eat every time. And if it’s a later game, I have the same sandwich-salad every time. I try to keep it consistent.

USAT: What’s in the scramble for the early games?

DV: We got bacon, bell peppers, cheddar cheese and mushrooms.

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Davante Adams Q&A: Raiders WR talks Derek Carr, Aaron Rodgers