AFC Notes: Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders, Davante Adams

Chargers

Chargers HC Brandon Staley only spent a year as OLB Khalil Mack‘s position coach in Chicago but it made quite an impression. So when the opportunity to trade for Mack came up, especially without giving up a first-round pick, Staley was all the way on board. 

“Any time that you’re going to get involved in a move like that, there are very few players that you’re going to do that for,” Staley said via the Athletic’s Daniel Popper. “That list is not very long, and so when you assess, OK, this player — doesn’t matter what position — hey, this is what we think that he’s worth. The Khalil trade, that’s representative of that. We feel like that was really good value for a player of his caliber.”

“We made a trade that we felt like really added a premium player to our team, but without it mortgaging our future,” Staley added.

This is only the third time Chargers GM Tom Telesco has given up a pick for a player, and this is by far the highest pick he’s ever surrendered. So it’s clear he’s sold on Staley’s vision for Mack. 

“You partner up with a GM who believes in what you do, and you have a vision for how you’re going to build a team and what you need,” Staley said. “And so it was just exciting to see it all come together.”

Staley added it was important for them to build up the defense to take pressure off of QB Justin Herbert and the offense. 

“It’s not just enough to outscore people in this league, because there’s going to be a game where you don’t shoot it well, and you’ve got to win in a lot of different ways in this league,” Staley said. “When you have a quarterback, it’s not just surrounding him with offensive weapons. It’s surrounding him with a complete team where the pressure isn’t on him every single game to score 35, to throw for 350, to bring you back. And I think that’s what we’re trying to do.”

And for his part, Mack was excited about the trade to a contending team on the West Coast. 

“It was weird to hear,” Mack said. “But understanding the team and the coach, having a relationship with Coach Staley and knowing his mindset and knowing his passion for the game, it went from bittersweet to kind of excited; knowing who I’m dealing with — the type of man he is, first and foremost — and how much he truly loves the game of football. You can feel it whenever you speak to him.”

Chiefs

New Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster said the chance to catch passes from Patrick Mahomes and be a part of Kansas City’s elite offense is why he chose to sign. 

“It came down to Pat and I’m excited,” Smith-Schuster said via the Athletic’s Nate Taylor. “I see this as an opportunity where I can prove my skills. We have some great guys, and this is why I came, to be a part of that. I came here to win. I’m a little bit like Travis [Kelce] — great hands, big dude who can just run and block, physically, in the run game. There’s so much I can do to help this team.”

Raiders

Raiders HC Josh McDaniels is looking forward to seeing QB Derek Carr and WR Davante Adams rebuild the chemistry they had during their time together at Fresno State.

“Hopefully, it will show itself,” McDaniels said, via Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. “I’m excited for him to build that kind of chemistry with all of our skill players as the quarterback. Certainly, he and Davante have a relationship. That will be important to their growth. I think them being unselfish and willing to really spread that relationship amongst their teammates is going to be important for us.”

Adams revealed that Carr has been attempting to get him to meet up and throw, yet he is still busy getting settled in Las Vegas.

“I’m hoping it’s fireworks,” Adams said during his introductory press conference. “We’ve established we know what we’re doing being apart from each other, let alone when we get together. We’re both excited and ready to get to work. Derek’s been bothering me to throw every day. I was like, ‘Look, man, I got to sign and do all those other stuff and get some of the logistics taken care of, make sure my (pregnant) wife is not in too much pain.’ We’re ready to get to work and start building on that connection we built over a decade ago.”

McDaniels spoke to the media in detail about the Adams trade and how it came together.

“I don’t know exactly the day or anything like that, but when it became apparent that the Packers were going to think about doing something like that, then you have to start doing your work and really diving into the process of researching the player, the player’s fit, and anything that you can to try to figure out if it’s something that would make your team better,” he said via ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez. “With Davante we just felt like this was the kind of player you would consider doing this for and he’s….certainly been a great football player and after having the opportunity to meet him and spending some time with him the other day everything that we had heard, everything that we were told…as a person, those were true, too. Feel really comfortable with the decision…that we made and really good about the player and the person that we’ve added to the team.” 

• After trading their first and second-round picks for Adams, McDaniels said the team hasn’t ruled out moving back up in the draft. (Vincent Bonsignore)