'Run It Back': Should Jets Re-Sign Jamal Adams?

There has been social media speculation about Jamal Adams' future in the NFL, but it's not a road the New York Jets should go down in free agency.

New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas may not have a more successful move than trading safety Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks. Sending a disgruntled star for draft capital that would eventually net receiver Garrett Wilson and offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker is the type of trade that keeps front offices employed and accelerates rebuilds.

The Jets won the breakup, but four seasons later, Adams is once again a topic of discussion amongst the New York faithful. Largely unsubstantiated rumors about Adams’ future – and the possibility of a Jets return – have permeated the discourse.

After liking a tweet about Seattle cutting him and replying “run it back” to a fan of his first NFL team, the Adams decision deserves to be revisited.

There has been little to no actual reporting about Adams becoming a cap casualty and finding his way back to the Big Apple. But for the sake of hypothetical offseason situations, Adams shouldn’t be a target for the Jets in free agency.

Simply put, Adams isn’t a fit for head coach Robert Saleh’s defense. Adams makes his money in the box, where he’s spent the plurality of his snaps every year of his career except for 2021 and 2022 – the latter in which he played just 15 snaps.

Both of New York’s starting safeties spent most of their time away from the line of scrimmage, which makes sense given the coverages Saleh frequents. Per MatchQuarters and Pro Football Focus, the league average rates for quarters and Cover 6 were 15.2 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively. The Jets ran the second most quarters in the NFL (27.6 percent) and were above average in Cover 6 (10.8 percent).

Both ask their safeties to rely more on open-field coverage skills and athleticism as they are frequently asked to cover the deeper parts of the field, whether it be matching a vertical route or being responsible for a deep half.

That has never been the best of Adams’ game. Per PFF, Adams hasn’t had a coverage grade over 52.5 in a non-2021 season since he left New York. For reference, his 50.7 coverage grade this year ranked 74th of 82 safeties with as many snaps in coverage. That 52.5 mark from 2020 would have ranked 72nd.

Adams hasn’t been healthy recently, either. He suffered a thigh quad tear that cost him almost the entirety of the 2022 season, and many feel he wasn’t playing healthy this season where he also suffered a concussion.

Whether he was playing hurt – which then-head coach Pete Carroll suggested – or not, he struggled in 2023, putting forth the worst run defense and tackling grades of his career. He didn’t play in the team’s final four games.

It’s hard to see a scenario in which Douglas is incentivized to sign Adams, whose best football is behind him and isn’t an ideal fit in the back seven.

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The safety may have already worn out his potential welcome.

After forcing his way out the first time out, Adams returned to the Jets conversation in 2023 when he insulted a beat reporter’s wife after a poor play of his was pointed out on social media.

Since promising to bring about change in the fortunes of Jets fans, Adams left when the road got tough. That’s his prerogative, and doing what’s best for his career isn’t something that should be villainized. But he mocked New York on his way out, and in the years since hasn’t proven to be the franchise-changer many envisioned the sixth-overall pick would become. It’s not surprising so many fans reacted negatively to the possibility of his return.

The Jets don’t need Adams, nor does the fanbase. An organization already knee-deep in the chaos of an Aaron Rodgers regime is better off allocating its attention and its resources elsewhere.