Jamal Adams Out of Big Apple: Jets Deal All-Pro Safety to Seahawks
The New York Jets’ 2019 season was basically two seasons in one as the two halves were polar opposites of one another. New York suffered through Sam Darnold having mono and Trevor Siemian going down in the first two games of the year, leaving them with Luke Falk under center for a couple of games. The Jets were 1-7 at the halfway mark of the season and were dead in the water for the postseason. New York rebounded behind a strong defensive showing to go 6-2 in the second half of the year but ended up 7-9 to miss the postseason for the ninth straight season.
Their leader on defense was safety Jamal Adams, who racked up 75 tackles (61 solo), 10 tackles for loss, 13 quarterback hits, 6.5 sacks, seven pass defenses, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception and two defensive touchdowns. He was named to the Pro Bowl for the second straight year and earned First Team All-Pro honors for the first time last season.
Now, he’s no longer a member of the Jets’ organization.
After previously making it clear that he wanted a new contract and making trade requests after expressing his dissatisfaction with the organization, New York pulled the trigger on a deal Saturday, sending Adams along with a fourth-round pick in 2022 to the Seahawks. In exchange, New York received first-round picks in 2021 and 2022, a third-round pick in 2021 plus safety Bradley McDougald. It was a shocking turn of events given how the Jets seemingly had zero interest in moving Adams this offseason but GM Joe Douglas said that the deal the Seahawks offered was too much to pass up.
"While we had maintained our interest in Jamal Adams having a long successful career with the Jets, we know it's important to be prepared and willing to adjust to new offers and circumstances. As I have always said, my job is to listen to calls and this offer was one we could not ignore."
While the move bolsters the Jets’ draft capital with additional first-round picks in each of the next two years, one wonders how well the team will fare with them. As Rich Cimini pointed out, the team has now dealt five of their last six first-round picks. That makes one wonder if they’re selecting players that are bad fits for their system or who simply don’t mesh with the team environment. In addition, if Seattle maintains their recent run of success, those first-round selections will come in the bottom third of the round, as opposed to the potential top-10 selections that the Jets generate on their own.
McDougald is going to likely slot in as a starting safety for the Jets in this, the final year of his current contract. He turns 30 in November and has battled some knee issues in his career. Last season, he picked up 70 tackles (52 solo), one tackle for loss, two quarterback hits, half a sack, two interceptions, six pass defenses, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery. While it’s reported that McDougald may have not even made the team out of camp for the Seahawks, he’ll step in to a starting role for the Jets alongside Marcus Maye more than likely. It’s going to make life more difficult for defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who now has to retool his strategy as he could deploy Adams in a myriad of ways to best utilize his talents.
As for Seattle, this move bolsters their defense as it gives them a multi-dimensional weapon in the secondary. Pete Carroll has done plenty with unheralded guys that were late draft picks or completely undrafted, turning them into elite players at their positions. Adams will be a weapon similar to the way the Seahawks deployed Kam Chancellor in the old “Legion of Boom” defense. He can be deployed closer to the line of scrimmage to help with the run defense and to get after the opposing quarterback. Adams leads all defensive backs in sacks and knockdowns since he came into the league.
Of course, there is the contract factor that surrounds Adams, who is in the fourth year of his rookie deal this season. The Seahawks also hold his fifth-year option, which would keep him under contract next year as well. Adams wants a deal that will make him the highest-paid safety in the league and he wanted to be among the highest-paid defensive players in the league. It will be interesting to see how his tune changes, if at all, with the Seahawks. After all, he’s going from a team that wasn’t a contender or likely to be one, to one that has made the postseason seven of the last eight years with a pair of Super Bowl appearances, including one win.
On paper, this is a deal that the Seahawks may have had to make in order to bolster their chances of chasing a Super Bowl. It even works financially, at least for this season, as Adams is scheduled to make $825,000 compared to McDougald’s $3.6 million. That frees up a little room in case the team decides to go after Jadeveon Clowney or someone else in free agency. The Jets are still trying to figure out what they need to do in order to become relevant once again. Getting extra first-round picks is a plus but how the team actually drafts is going to go a long way to determining if this is another bad move by an organization that has been the poster child for poor decisions in recent years.