Seahawks may be without indispensable, injured Jamal Adams on Sunday at Miami
The best player so far this season on a Seahawks defense that needs all the good it can get may be out a while.
Jamal Adams is unlikely to play Sunday for Seattle (3-0) at the Miami Dolphins (1-2).
The Seahawks’ medical staff believes the All-Pro safety’s strained groin is relatively minor in severity. But the need for long running and lateral movement by a defensive back makes his return to play in one week after the injury during the team’s victory over the Dallas Cowboys this past weekend unlikely if not unwise.
Coach Pete Carroll said the 24-year-old Adams was in significant pain in the locker room following Seattle’s 38-31 outlasting of the Cowboys. He has missed just two games in his four-season career, the first three of which were with the New York Jets.
“Jamal’s going to have a hard time with the groin strain,” Carroll said Monday. “That’s going to be hard for him. We’ll see if he’ll be able to make it back.”
Adams left early in the fourth quarter after having his least productive game yet for Seattle since arriving in a splashy trade from the Jets in July. He had two tackles, a hit on quarterback Dak Prescott and one pass defensed in 53 snaps. Seattle blitzed him on five of its first 12 defensive plays but then less than in the previous two games after that.
Ryan Neal replaced Adams for the final 29 defensive snaps against Dallas. The Seahawks had called him up from the practice squad before the game. Neal intercepted Prescott’s final pass in the end zone on the next-to-last-play of the game to secure Seattle’s latest zany win.
Neal was playing because Adams and Lano Hill were both out injured. Carroll said Monday Hill has a chance to play in Miami. The reserve safety and dime, sixth defensive back in pass defense awakened Sunday hours before warmups for the Cowboys game with a bad back and told his team he couldn’t play.
The Seahawks sent Neal back to the practice squad Monday. That is a further sign they believe Hill can play safety next to Quandre Diggs this weekend against the Dolphins.
Seattle still has one open spot on its 53-man active roster. The team can call Neal back up off the practice squad a second time, no later than 90 minutes before the 10 a.m. kickoff in Miami Sunday, per the NFL’s new roster rules for this unprecedented COVID-19 season. That would be in addition to the 53-man roster, because teams can have 54 or 55 players on the roster for game days this season.
Adams entered the Cowboys game with two of the Seahawks’ three sacks this season. Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. have employed Adams all over the field in varied roles: most often as a blitzer but also as a run-stopping pseudo-linebacker, a deep coverage defensive back, a middle rusher and an edge rusher.
He had 12 tackles, a sack, two tackles for losses and two quarterback hits in his first game for the Seahawks, their opening win at Atlanta this month. He injured his right elbow on the sack in that game when a Falcons lineman fell on it. He’s been wearing a bulky black brace over his right arm in the last two games.
Adams saved Seattle six points with three brilliant plays in week two against New England, while also giving up three big pass plays of more than 100 combined yards to Julian Edelman in Seattle’s last-play, shootout win.
