Jamal Adams explains social-media post about Jets’ beat writer’s wife, & doesn’t back off
Given the chance to make amends, Jamal Adams made, well...
Yikes.
Last week a beat writer for SNY covering Adams’ former New York Jets, as he has for years, posted a video on social media of Adams getting beaten inside one on one for a touchdown in the fourth quarter by Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson. That was the go-ahead score in Dallas’ rally past Seattle 41-35.
The writer posted “Yikes” above the play on his social-media account.
The next day, Adams responded on the same platform by re-posting a photo off of the reporter’s social-media account with his wife. Seattle’s three-time Pro Bowl safety wrote “Yikes” above that photo.
Adams later deleted that post. But the reaction to it took off nationally.
Wednesday, the Seahawks’ first practice day since that internet face-off, coach Pete Carroll said he had talked to Adams about it.
“We’ve already addressed (it),” Carroll said. “I don’t know if it was a great decision at the time. I’m not sure about the details of it, but I know that he realized that he needed to take it down. ...
“We don’t want to be a part of that.”
About an hour later, Adams stood at his locker before practice and was given the chance to comment on his exchange with the Jets reporter.
“It’s always the athlete that crossed the line when he responds. But at the end of the day, disrespect is disrespect, however you want to take it,” Adams said.
“So, I responded. I knew when I did hit that Tweet, I wasn’t in it to win it. At the end of the day it was to get him to understand, ‘Leave me the hell alone.’”
Then Adams said: “When others go low, I go lower.”
That is undeniable.
As for his talk about it with Carroll, Adams said, smiling: “Oh, it was a great conversation.”
Adams was the Jets’ first-round draft choice in 2017 out of LSU. He played three seasons for New York and was an All-Pro, before the Seahawks acquired him in a trade with the Jets before the 2020 season. He’s been set back by season-ending injuries since joining Seattle, including a torn quadriceps tendon for which he missed 13 months before returning Oct. 2 at the New York Jets.
Asked if he regretted posting about the beat writer and his wife, Adams said: “I mean, you can sit there and have regret. But I don’t live that way in my life. ...We’ve had history...We’ve never liked each other.
“Obviously, hey, he responded to something that was uncalled for that he didn’t need to speak on. And, honestly, I’ve been letting him slide for too long and I just got fed up with it.
“I did what I did. I hate that I had to bring her into the situation, but at the end of the day the ultimate goal was to get at him.
“I’m not here to say if it was fair or not. But at the same time, at the end of the day, it’s been personal with him and I ever since I’ve been with the Jets and even before that, since my rookie year. Like I said, it’s been going on for countless years. He’s always said some smart things toward my play, if I do make a mistake. And I just got fed up with it, bro. This was the end of it. And I knew, this only thing right here, I was going to Tweet was going to hurt him. Anything else I said wouldn’t have hurt him. But he got my point. And he knows not to continue to mess with me.
“Again, didn’t want to bring her in. But I just so happened I scrolled down and I seen what I seen, and I responded back with the same comment he made.”
Adams said he didn’t know that was the writer’s wife, that he didn’t know if he was married or not.
“I seen him in a photo, and I hit him back with the same photo,” Adams said.
“At the end of the day, I knew that was something that he loved. And this is something that I love, playing this game. ...
“I was fed up with the (stuff). So I gave him something back that, I guarantee he won’t respond back to anything else, going forward. And that was my whole point.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2023 at 2:26 PM.
