Jamal Adams, in a wheelchair, comes out to talk to Seahawks at practice before surgery
Jamal Adams turned a routine, light, Friday practice into an inspirational one for his Seahawks teammates.
The safety some in the locker room call “the general” and “big bro” was wheeled out across two fields to the far practice field in a wheelchair Friday afternoon. He talked to the Seahawks at the end of their light practice before Sunday’s game at San Francisco.
It was four days after Adams tore his quadriceps tendon and injured his knee blitzing free into Russell Wilson in the second quarter of Seattle’s raucous home win over the Denver Broncos.
Adams gave an impassioned, at-times R-rated talk about what winning that opener meant to him, and what he wants to see the Seahawks accomplish without him this season.
He will have surgery in the coming days, coach Pete Carroll said.
Team co-captain and Pro Bowl veteran safety partner Quadre Diggs said “it was dope” to see Adams on the field back with the team in a wheelchair.
Josh Jones is replacing Adams as the starting safety with Diggs, beginning Sunday against the 49ers in Santa Clara.
“Yeah, man. It was just good hearing from one of your generals, man,” Jones said. “Seeing him out there, man, post- after everything happened, that was just a good feeling. Guys needed to see that.
“He’s a leader in this locker room, one of the best players in this league. So seeing him in good spirits, that was cool.”
Rookie defensive back Coby Bryant noted how positive Adams sounded after his third major injury in three seasons with the Seahawks. Seattle’s $70 million safety was two quarters into his comeback from surgeries to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder and broken fingers.
“That’s big bro, man, so I was happy to see him, more than anything, (to) see that he had positivity,” Bryant said.
“Obviously, it’s hard seeing him like that. I obviously wanted to play with him this year. But things happen for a reason. I know he’s going to get back and become better.”
The Seahawks put Adams on injured reserve Thursday. Carroll stopped short of saying it will be a season-ending procedure, though that’s how his teammates were taking his talk to them Friday.
“It was great. He just popped in on us at the end there. It was really good,” Carroll said. “He had a chance to speak to the whole crew.
“He’s just such a heartfelt guy, and he just let it out and told the guys what he’s thinking and how grateful he was about the win.”
Carroll said Adams told his teammates medical personnel wanted to take him from Lumen Field for further attention on his leg, but that he refused. He insisted on watching the second half of the game Monday night from overlooking the field.
“(He said) they were trying to haul him out of the stadium,” Carroll said, “and he went up in the box, or something, to watch the finish of it. And he was going crazy about the end and the way the defense played.
“It was to reconnect for him. For everybody.”
As for what’s next for Adams following his surgery, Carroll said, “I don’t know the long range of it. “He’s going to get worked on here in a couple days. And then we will know after that.”
Asked if there was any chance Adams plays again this season, the coach said: “I don’t know that yet. I don’t know.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 3:16 PM.
