Jamal Adams Proves He is a Cornerstone Player And Not Trade Bait With Pro Bowl Honor

Jamal Adams is a franchise player for the Jets

Once again, Jamal Adams proved why he is a building block for this team’s future and should not be an option for the New York Jets to trade in 2020. 

Adams was named to the Pro Bowl on Wednesday, the third-year safety earning the honor for a second time in his young NFL career. Not surprisingly, it has been a very good year for Adams who has 64 tackles, 6.5 sacks, six passes defended and two forced fumbles as well as an interception this year. 

For a 5-9 Jets team, Adams inclusion in the Pro Bowl is a sign of his importance to the team. It led to head coach Adam Gase on Wednesday praising the safety during his daily press conference. 

This stands a bit in contrast to credible reports last week that the Jets would be open to trading Adams this offseason. The report included Adams along with running back Le'Veon Bell as possible trading pieces for the team.

“It’s great, it’s a great accomplishment for him. You guys watch him play all year, he’s had a great year. He’s played as well as any player I’ve been around, consistently, week-in-week-out,” Gase told reporters on Wednesday. 

“You never see a dip, it is always an elite level.” 

Prez is headed back to Orlando.@TheAdamsEra | #TakeFlight pic.twitter.com/SdYt1aUU0S

— New York Jets (@nyjets) December 18, 2019

And yet, a player who is as good as any that Gase has “been around” wasn’t considered a cornerstone piece of this team weeks ago. It is a bit of a change in outlook from Gase, it appears, when it comes to his star player. 

In late October, the Jets had fielded offers for Gase on the eve of the trade deadline. It was due diligence from the Jets and the right thing to do, especially for a rebuilding team. 

Adams was upset that he was apparently on the trading block, a situation that was eventually diffused between player and management. In a press conference the day after the trade deadline, Gase praised Adams. 

But then Gase took his comments in an unusual direction as fielded follow-up questions in his press conference. He refused to call Adams a cornerstone player, a puzzling statement given the safety is undoubtedly the best Jets player on the roster right now. 

“See, again, to me, it's like, I don't know how to answer that because it's so hard in the NFL to just say build around this guy, build around this guy, when it's not a quarterback,” Gase said in an October 31 press conference following the passing of the trade deadline.  

“It's just hard for me to see it like that. I look at it as, you have guys at certain positions that are role players, you have guys that are elite players, you have guys that might be a backup-type player, but he's a starter. It's hard for me to really kind of answer that one.” 

And while the over-arching point that Gase is making shouldn't be lost, it is clear that Adams is playing at a whole other level. Safety or not, he is the piece this team builds not just around but builds on.

So now, six weeks later, Gase’s most recent comments acknowledge that Adams is one of those elite players and, apparently, the only one the Jets have on their roster. No other Jets player was chosen to the Pro Bowl, a sign of how far away the team is from being ready to compete for the playoffs. 

Wednesday’s Pro Bowl tab underscored that Adams is necessary to this roster. This is a young player, far from being on the decline, who can be a part of the team’s core moving forward. A cornerstone player if this franchise has ever seen one.