Jamal Adams: ‘I don’t hate Adam Gase.’ But he loves the Seahawks way more than his ex-Jets
Jamal Adams can make history this weekend. Against the team with which he has the most history.
For better, and worse.
Seattle’s blitzing, All-Pro safety can, in the words of his coach Pete Carroll, become “the sacky-est defensive back” in NFL history on Sunday when his Seahawks (8-4) host Adams’ former New York Jets (0-12). Adams has a career-high 7 1/2 sacks in eight games this season. He is one-half sack from Adrian Wilson’s league record for most sacks in a season by a defensive back.
Oh, yeah, he’s fully aware he can set an NFL record against his former Jets. They traded him to Seattle in July for two first-round draft choices plus now-on-injured reserve Bradley McDougald.
Adams, if you haven’t noticed in five months in Seattle, notices everything.
“Yeah, obviously, that has been on my mind,” Adams said Friday. “Breaking the record, I said I was going to do it last year when I failed (when he has 6 1/2 sacks for New York). I always told myself, whenever I put my mind to something I’m going to get it done. That’s just how I’m wired. ...
“Will be it be sweet? Yes, of course.
“I’d be lying if I said I’m not excited.”
‘I don’t hate Adam Gase’
Adams left on less-than-best terms with the Jets. He criticized coach Adam Gase for not being the right leader to get New York into the playoffs.
In 2019 the Jets finished 7-9. It was the best record of Adams’ three seasons with the team. He became an All-Pro with those 6 1/2 sacks. But he wanted a new contract beyond the fifth-year option New York picked up for 2021.
This past offseason Adams told New York media of Gase: “I don’t feel like he’s the right leader for this organization to reach the Promised Land. As a leader, what really bothers me is that he doesn’t have a relationship with everybody in the building.
“At the end of the day, he doesn’t address the team,” Adams said this spring. “If there’s a problem in the locker room, he lets another coach address the team. If we’re playing sh---y and we’re losing, he doesn’t address the entire team as a group at halftime. He’ll walk out of the locker room and let another coach handle it.”
Friday Adams said: “Adam Gase, you know, we had a solid relationship.
“I don’t hate Adam Gase. I don’t hate Adam Gase.”
He put his arms out wide for emphasis.
“I have no problem with Adam Gase,” Adams said. “I just didn’t feel he handled certain cases well as a head coach. And that’s just my opinion. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, right? ...
“I have no hate towards Adam. Obviously things are not going in a positive way there in New York with the record...If Adam comes up to me to shake my hand, I will shake his hand...
Adams also got mad that Jets general manager Joe Douglas said he would address getting him a contract extension in New York, but according to Adams the GM never did. Adams requested a trade at age 24, after just three seasons in the league.
It eventually happened, to Seattle in July.
“I am at peace. I am a different man,” Adams said. “I have nothing but love for the Jets organization. ...
“I did what’s best for myself and my family and my career. I took a chance on myself, at 24 years old. Many people didn’t think that a 24-year-old would get out of his situation. They thought I was crazy. They thought I was a baby.
“But I stuck to it. I knew who I was as a person. I knew my worth.”
Sunday, he says he’s looking forward to playing against and perhaps setting that league record on Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. For two years in practices with New York, Adams had to avoid the third-overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft because he was always wearing a no-contact jersey, common for all quarterbacks in the league.
“I finally get after Sam a little bit. One of my guys, man,” Adams said. “I have a lot of respect for Sam. Just to face him, and he doesn’t have a red jersey on, because I’m kind of used to that...it’s going to be fun, man.
“I’m excited to get out there.”
The Jets drafted Adams sixth overall in 2017 out of LSU, and he said Friday he will always appreciate the franchise for that and his NFL start.
Asked about his end in New York, Adams said: “No regrets. Obviously, man, things happened the way they happened. I had to do what I had to do to get out of my situation.
“I’m happy to be here, man. I’m happy being a Seattle Seahawk. I’m happy to be part of an organization that values me and respects me for who I am, on and off the field. And they are giving me a chance, to be myself. They always strive and always push me to be myself.”
The ultimate test of how much the Seahawks value Adams will come over the next year. His contract inherited from the Jets ends after the 2021 season. He will ask to be the highest-paid safety in the game, above the $59 million, four-year extension the Arizona Cardinals gave former University of Washington safety Budda Baker this summer.
With all the Seahawks gave up to acquire him, they are expected to pay Adams what he wants to keep him as a franchise cornerstone for 2022 and beyond.
His perfect fit
Adams said in New York “I fought depression, a little bit.”
Since Adams arrived in Seattle, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has let the fiery Adams simmer. Through the four games he missed midseason with a strained groin. On the sidelines between series in November, as Seattle’s defense sank to the bottom of the NFL statistically.
“They always support me, whether it’s wrong or right,” Adams said of Carroll and the Seahawks, “and they will tell me when I’m wrong.”
He called that “a complete 360” from the Jets, though that can make a man dizzy.
“From top to bottom, it’s a first-class organization,” he said of the Seahawks.
Asked if he felt disrespected by the Jets on his way out of New York, Adams laughed.
“Listen, the guys that make the decisions over there, they just didn’t value me like Seattle does. I appreciate that,” he said.
“There’s no hard feelings towards them. They have different views. I had a different view.
“But at the end of the day, I’m just happy to be where I am. I have an organization that believes in me. Believes I can get it done. That’s all I can ask for, man.
“It’s just all about respect for me.”
Adams isn’t the only former Jet going against his old team Sunday. Starting right tackle Brandon Shell is returning from missing the last two games with a high-ankle sprain. He signed a two-year, $11 million deal with Seattle this spring. He has solidified the right edge of the Seahawks’ iffy offensive line.
Something says Shell wouldn’t miss this game for anything, either.
Carroll said he’s talked this week to Adams and Shell about playing their old team, as he does with all Seahawks before they meet their old clubs.
“We just visited on it. Both guys are level-headed on it,” Carroll said.
“Both guys are in a good place, ready to go.”
Adams is perhaps four weeks from playing in his first playoff NFL playoff game. Seattle is second in the NFC West on a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Rams and will host the Rams Dec. 27. The Seahawks currently hold the first of three wild-card spots in the NFC playoff standings.
Adams laughed and said didn’t want to answer if he was surprised the Jets come into Seattle Sunday at 0-12. They fired Adams’ defensive coordinator Gregg Williams on Monday.
“Man, that’s out of my control,” he said. “I’m not going to answer that one.
“At the end of the day I’m just happy to be a Seattle Seahawk. ...
“I’m happy. I’m beyond happy.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 5:13 PM.
