Seahawks’ Jamal Adams out again, to get 2nd medical opinion on surgically repaired fingers
That Jamal Adams trade still isn’t exactly working out the way the Seahawks envisioned.
The safety who got a record-setting $70 million contract extension to stay with Seattle last summer will be missing from the team’s training camp indefinitely. After practicing Wednesday in the first workout of camp, Adams “didn’t feel right” with his surgically repaired fingers from this past winter, coach Pete Carroll said. The team’s highest-paid player since Russell Wilson was traded to Denver missed the second practice Thursday, and Adams was nowhere to be seen around the team facility.
It sounds like he will be missing for some time. Adams is off to get second opinions from doctors on what do next to relieve the discomfort.
Asked how long Adams will be out, Carroll said Thursday “I don’t know that.”
Asked if another surgery on the fingers is one of the options he’s considering, Carroll said: “I don’t know that yet.
“He just felt something that didn’t feel right and thought he’s got to get it checked out.”
The coach said the 26-year-old safety the Seahawks acquired from the New York Jets for two first-round draft choices plus starting safety Bradley McDougald before the 2020 season is “really concerned.”
Carroll said Adams is “really upset” that he’s missing these days of training camp while Seattle installs a new, 3-4 defense with players still learning the terminology and schemes.
In December, Adams had season-ending surgery to repair the same injury that ended his 2020 Seattle debut season four games early: a torn labrum. He also had each of two fingers on his left hands fused in the form of a claw, to correct pain he’s had in them the last two seasons.
Reserves Ryan Neal and James Jones alternated Thursday as Adams’ replacements, playing strong safety next to free safety Quandre Diggs in the starting offense.
In June during the team’s minicamp, Adams held up the middle fingers on his left hand he can’t straighten, nor curl.
“I’ll never be able to bend them fully. But it is what it is. It’s for the love of the game,” he said June 7. “I’ve been going through that for two years now. My first year when I got here, I dislocated my ring finger probably about 10 times and the other one probably about 12 times, so I’ve been dealing with that.
“I haven’t really said much, let everybody talk about it, whatever. But it’s good now.”
It’s not good anymore.
Last August Adams re-signed with Seattle through the 2025 season. His four-year contract worth up to $70 million is the richest for a safety in NFL history. It guarantees him $38 million.
As is the Seahawks’ custom on rich deals for veterans, Adams’ deal is heavily back-loaded with non-guaranteed years at the end: $34 million of the $48 million in non-guaranteed base salary is scheduled for 2024 and ‘25, the final two years of the four-year contract.
Until then, Adams is away and seeking more opinions from more doctors to get his fingers finally right.
This story was originally published July 28, 2022 at 3:56 PM.
