Silver Minings: Davante Adams misses 2nd practice in a row

It’s that time of year when the flu bug is circulating around the country and it looks like it has landed, or at least taken a pit stop, in Sin City. The Las Vegas Raiders released their second injury report of the week yesterday and four players, safety Johnathan Abram, wide receiver Davante Adams, and defensive ends Tashawn Bower and Clelin Ferrell, were listed with an “illness”.

While the Raiders technically haven’t specified that it’s the flu, it’s pretty clear there’s some type of bug floating in the building. All four players were held out of practice on Wednesday and while Abram and Ferrell were healthy enough to at least be limited on Thursday, Adams and Bower still had to sit out.

I’m sure Josh McDaniels has bought every packet of Airborne and/or Vitamin C in Southern Nevada to make sure Adams is good to go for Sunday against the Chiefs. The wideout will likely still play, but it’s certainly a question of if he’ll be 100 percent by game time.

Those two weren’t the only ones who haven’t practiced yet this week for the Silver and Black. Linebacker Divine Deablo has been a DNP over the last couple of days with back and ankle injuries. That could mean more reps for Blake Martinez and Jayon Brown, who is nursing a hamstring injury but was at least limited in practice, this weekend if Deablo can’t go.

The good news for Las Vegas is tight end Darren Waller has been back at practice all week, albeit in a limited capacity. Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow also appears to be back to full strength as he was a full participant yesterday after suffering a hip injury a week ago.

New Orleans heads into Sunday with a bunch of significant injuries as well. Wideouts Michael Thomas (foot) and Jarvis Landry (ankle) along with cornerback Marshon Lattimore (abdomen) all missed last Thursday’s game and have yet to practice this week.

So, as long as Vegas can get rid of this bug in the next couple of days, they’ll certainly be the healthier team heading into the matchup.

In other Raiders’ links:

• Raiders happy with DT situation: defensive coordinator Patrick Graham talked to the media about the team’s interior defenders after trading Johnathan Hankins to the Cowboys.
• Andrew Billings standing out: our Marcus Johnson thinks the emerging defensive tackle is the reseason why Dave Zeigler and Josh McDaniels felt comfortable getting rid of Big Hank.
• Johnathan Abram is highly coveted: at least three teams have called about trading for the 2019 first-round pick, according to Jordan Schultz.
• Is Josh Jacobs altering McDaniels’ philosophy?: the coach has primarily gone with a running back by committee approach in the past, but not this year.