Jamal Adams reports to Seahawks training camp, as they work out his new deal
As expected, Jamal Adams reported on time to Seahawks training camp Tuesday.
The team hadn’t been expecting anything else.
They have been planning on that—really, since they traded for the All-Pro safety last summer.
Adams, 25, is entering the final year of the contract Seattle inherited from the New York Jets. The Seahawks traded two first-round draft choices and veteran starter Bradley McDougald for Adams 12 months ago.
That price wasn’t to rent Adams for one season then a disgruntled second one.
Now, it’s investment time.
Adams is set to earn $9.86 million this year. Since the day they traded a king’s ransom (by NFL and Seattle draft guru general manager John Schneider’s standards) for him, the Seahawks have been budgeting to make Adams the league’s richest safety. That means $16 million or more per season, beginning in 2022.
Last year, Justin Simmons re-set the bar for the league’s safeties with a new deal in Denver, above Budda Baker’s with Arizona. Simmons’ contract is worth $15.25 million per season.
The 28-year-old veteran has been selected to two fewer Pro Bowl teams than has Adams (three). Simmons has not been named All-Pro. Adams was an All-Pro for the Jets in 2019.
Six weeks ago, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was asked about a new contract for Adams.
“It’s comin’,” Carroll said June 15, when the coach was excusing the safety from Seattle’s mandatory minicamp for a family matter.
Adams’ agent did not return a message from The News Tribune seeking a status update this past weekend.
Adams set an NFL record for defensive backs with 9 1/2 sacks last season, his debut for the Seahawks. That likely upped his asking price. It forced Schneider and Seattle’s executive salary-cap planner Matt Thomas to consider how above that $16 million per year to pay Adams.
What is the value for his premium, unique skill as a blitzing pass rusher?
Thing is, Carroll doesn’t want Adams blitzing as frequently in 2021 as he had to in the first half of the 2020 season.
Seattle’s defense had next-to-no pass-rushing threat without Adams blitzing, until the team traded for Cincinnati Pro Bowl end Carlos Dunlap in October. Dunlap revitalized the pass rush. Carroll then used Adams more in coverage to help a unit that was giving up league records for passing yards through the first two months of last season.
Dunlap is re-signed and back on Seattle’s defensive line. So is fellow end Benson Mayowa. The Seahawks also signed former 49ers pass rushers Aldon Smith and Kerry Hyder.
Alton Robinson is likely to have a larger role after an impressive rookie season with limited snaps. Fellow end L.J. Collier is working into a outside-inside hyrbid role as a pass rusher in hopes of becoming worthy of Seattle’s first-round pick in 2019.
The plan of Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. is all those pass rushers up front reducing the need for Adams to take as many chances blitzing and leaving the Seahawks’ back door open to huge pass plays in 2021.
Adams can rightly counter that he set his league record for sacks last season while so injured he needed multiple surgeries, on his shoulder and broken fingers, this winter. Imagine, his side is saying, what he will be for the Seahawks fully healthy.
Adams stayed away from all of the Seahawks’ offseason workouts. Carroll excused him from the mandatory three-day minicamp last month, to tend to what the coach said were personal matters.
Rapoport reported Monday the Seahawks and Adams were “not close at all” on finalizing a new deal.
Such is the give and take in negotiations that has kept Adams from having a deal done before training camp begins.
That, and the fact the last six weeks every NFL player, coach, GM and executive have hung Gone Fishing signs on office doors and disappeared for the quietest time of the league year, every year.
Seattle’s biggest extensions in the Carroll and Schneider era have often happened during or soon after the opening days of training camp: Russell Wilson in 2015, Bobby Wagner one day later that summer, Kam Chancellor in 2017, Duane Brown in 2018 and so on.
Carroll said last month of contract talks with Adams and his agent: “It’s been ongoing. And it’s been amicable throughout.
“We recognize that he’s a fantastic football player, and we’re in the midst of ... it’s a big contract process.
“I know he knows he’s been treated with a lot of respect. He’s been very respectful towards the club, as well. They’ve been good talks. Just hasn’t been able to get settled at this point.
“But,” Carroll said six weeks ago, “it’s comin’.”
The coach said then that the Seahawks expect Adams to report to camp on time.
Look for Adams to be at team headquarters Tuesday. Expect him on the field Wednesday for the first practice.
And expect him to sign a new contract for 2022 and beyond above $16 million per season during the first weeks—if not days—of camp.
It’s why the Seahawks traded for him in the first place, to have him past 2021.
This story was originally published July 26, 2021 at 3:25 PM.
