Jamal Adams’ intro with Seahawks: a demand for justice, his desire to retire with Seattle
First—before he tells you how he already wants to retire as a Seahawk, before he tells you broke down in “tears of joy” upon learning he’d been traded to the Seahawks—Jamal Adams wants you to know this:
“I want to say we need to arrest the murderers of Breonna Taylor.”
Those were the All-Pro safety’s first words on his online Zoom call Thursday, in his first press conference as a Seahawk since the team traded two first-round draft choices plus veteran starter Bradley McDougald to the New York Jets for Adams Saturday.
He wants justice for Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was killed in her home by police in Louisville, Ky., March 13.
“My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family—and many others,” the 24-year-old Adams said, leaning into his video camera. “We are fighting for justice.
“But to answer your question, man: I’m excited. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to be a Seattle Seahawk. When I got the call, honestly, I broke down. In tears of joy. A lot of mixed emotions. I’m going to miss a lot of guys over there.
“But at the end of the day, man, this was my calling. This is where I need to be. This is where I was placed to be. ...I’m here to stay, and I’m excited to be a Seattle Seahawk, like I said.”
Adams said he was and remains “really overwhelmed” by the trade he pretty much demanded from the Jets. This offseason he listed to the Jets Seattle as one of seven teams to which he preferred to be traded.
“Man, it’s so surreal to be around a great organization like Seattle, to be coached by legendary coaches, Hall-of-Fame coaches, to be around Hall of Famers—from Russ to Bobby, K.J., Bruce Irvin, Quandre Diggs...the list goes on and on, man,” Adams said.
“I’m just excited to be here.”
SO excited.
In fact, Adams said—before he’s even had his first practice with Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright and that coach he considers a legend and Hall of Famer, Pete Carroll—he wants to finish his still-young career with Seattle.
“The plan is to retire here, you know what I mean? That is my plan,” Adams said.
“But obviously, you know, those things handle themselves. All you can do is...do the right things, on and off the field. ...
“I’m very excited to be here. I know the rest of the guys are excited to have me. Our coaching staff, and everybody else.
“I’ll worry about that when the time comes.”
Adams is signed through the 2021 season. His new deal after that is poised to make him the league’s highest-paid safety, at perhaps $16 million per year.
Seattle’s going for it
There are go-for-it moves. Then there is what Carroll and general manager John Schneider did this past weekend: trading two first-round draft choices plus reliable veteran Bradley McDougald to the New York Jets to acquire the 24-year-old Adams, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and 2019 All-Pro who by multiple measures is the league’s best and most versatile safety.
The Seahawks didn’t make this deal that had much of the NFL questioning how much they gave up to have Adams in Seattle for just two years.
But Adams did not let on that Carroll and Schneider have talked much to him about that.
His initial answer when asked if he sees this trade as the beginning of a long-term relationship with the Seahawks beyond his rookie contract Seattle general is inheriting from the Jets ending, Adams said: “Well, you know, man, that’s not something that I’m really focused on. Obviously, those things will take care of itself. Again, I’m here to play ball.
“Mr. Schneider and coach Pete Carroll, these guys brought me in, and I’m here to play football, man. I’m here to help those guys win—or continue to win, I should say.”
He called playing in the same defense a few yards from Wagner, Seattle’s All-Pro middle linebacker, “a cheat code.”
Many around the league are debating the wisdom of trading two first-round picks for a star not at a top-value position such as quarterback, wide receiver or pass rusher but a safety.
But two first-round picks have different value to Schneider and the Seahawks. While making the playoffs in seven of the last eight years and playing in two Super Bowls, Seattle has annually picked in the high-20s of the first round for most of the last decade.
Schneider explained his way of thinking in the trade for Adams, the Jets’ sixth overall pick in the 2017 draft, to NBC Sports’ Peter King in King’s latest podcast this week.
“The way we view it — and I hope this comes across the right way — but historically we’ve been, you know, been picking in the late 20s,” Schneider told King. “And credit to our whole football operations staff and Coach (Pete) Carroll and all his guys, the way they develop people and, obviously, our quarterback and Bobby and K.J. (Wright) and all the veterans that have done such a great job over the years here.
“But when you are picking in the late 20s, it’s a different challenge. We just viewed it as an opportunity to say, ‘If we were picking number 27 to move up to number (six), what does that look like to us, on draft weekend?’ And, quite honestly, we felt like it was appropriate for us, that that would be the right compensation.
“Now that can be debated, right?” Schneider said, with a grin. “It’s fun. It’s entertainment for everybody. I get it. But when you are in that arena with and you are having those negotiations and you’re trying to figure out what your future is going to look like, and what your windows of opportunity look like, we just felt like we should go for it.
“You can’t sit here and preach that you’re going to be a consistent, championship-caliber football team and NOT be in something like this — and go for it.”
So the GM confirmed what the Adams trade looked like is what it really is for the Seahawks: them going for it, keeping themselves in contention for another Super Bowl while Wilson remains in his prime at the top of his game and sport at age 31.
Wilson’s record $140-million contract Schneider negotiated with agent Mark Rodgers ends after the 2023 season, when Wilson will be 35 years old. So that “window of opportunity” Schneider mentioned? You can see how the Seahawks view it open for perhaps the next three seasons.
Adams is signed for two of them.
Adams’ role?
Adams and Diggs, the former Detroit Lions captain and free safety Seattle got in another trade in October, give the Seahawks their best pairing at the back of the defense since Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor were starring through Seattle’s 2013 and ‘14 Super Bowl seasons.
Adams called Diggs “like a brother to me.” He says it’s been that way since he was 17 and a top high-school recruit on a weekend visit to the University of Texas. Diggs was his recruiting host.
“We had a great time on Sixth Street,” Adams said of his weekend with Diggs in Austin.
Adams eventually chose LSU over Texas and others.
The analytical people at Pro Football Focus rate Adams as one of only two NFL safeties with top-10 grades in tackling on running plays, in pass coverage and in pressuring quarterbacks on blitzes since 2018. The other is the Chargers’ Derwin James.
“I can do a little bit of everything,” Adams said.
“You just turn on the film, I do a bit more than just stay in the box.”
But Adams is not Chancellor—whom, by the way, Adams says he intends to contact soon. The Seahawks will likely never have another one of him. Don’t expect Carroll to stick Adams “in the box” near the line as an extra linebacker against the run, as the Seahawks did with the thumping Chancellor while Thomas exquisitely roamed the rest of the field through 2017.
What Adams provides is the best at what Carroll—a 1970s college defensive back, NFL secondary coach and defensive coordinator—has been employing since Chancellor had to quit football in 2017 because of a neck injury. Adams is a versatile weapon Carroll can use in the middle of the field, off the edge, against tight ends, against slot receivers, against the run—and, yes, in rushing the passer.
Adams had 6 1/2 sacks last season for the Jets. That would have led the Seahawks’ defense in 2019. Only Miami had fewer sacks than Seattle in the NFL last year. That, plus poor coverage from long-gone safety Tedric Thompson failing to replace Thomas early and from cornerback Tre Flowers late in the season—were why Seattle was 27th in pass defense in 2019.
Adams has blitzed 159 times in 30 games the last two seasons, more than five times per game. Expect Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. to blitz more this season with Adams.
Seattle has gone more to interchangeable safeties the last few years, dictated by down and distance and match-ups with what types of receivers are on the field. Diggs and Adams will interchange exactly as Carroll wants. Diggs is as the best the Seahawks have had since Thomas at playing center field and ranging sideline to sideline reading plays. But with Adams next to him this season, Diggs won’t have to cover as much ground on every play. That makes him better for the rest of the defense in front of him.
What role have the Seahawks told Adams he will play this season?
“At the end of the day, I’m here to compete. There is no starting role for me,” he said. “I have to earn it.”
Yes, he said that with a straight face.
“That’s what it’s always been about for me. You just don’t come into a situation and expect to be there,” he said. “There’s a ton of talent out here. There’s a ton of guys fighting for those positions. And at the end of the day, no one really has a starting position yet. That’s what training camp is for. The best 11 will be out there (on defense).
“So, hopefully, I’m in the rotation. Hopefully, I’m starting.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 1:36 PM.
