Pete Carroll: Jamal Adams Provides More Than All-Pro Talent to Seahawks Defense

While Adams' tenure with the Jets ended with the bridge between the player and organization burned beyond repair, coach Pete Carroll has no doubts his newest safety will fit in seamlessly in the Seahawks locker room.

SEATTLE, WA - Having coached in the professional  and college ranks for five decades, Pete Carroll has worked with and developed his fair share of elite defensive backs. In particular, he's been one of the NFL's most successful at coaching up safeties dating back to when he first arrived in the league in 1983.

First, he helped transform strong safety Joey Browner into a perennial Pro Bowler as the Vikings defensive backs coach from 1985 to 1989. In 1995 and 1996, 49ers free safety Merton Hanks continued his dominant play with Carroll as defensive coordinator, earning All-Pro and Pro Bowl nods both seasons.

After a failed stop as head coach in New England, Carroll rediscovered his groove at USC, returning the Trojans to national relevance. Among his biggest stars during his nine years with the program, Troy Polamalu earned All-American honors in 2002 before being drafted in the first round by Pittsburgh.

Jumping back to the NFL with far greater success than his first two opportunities, Carroll's best coaching yet came with the Seahawks over the past decade. He drafted and developed the "Legion of Boom," overseeing the emergence of Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor as two of the best safeties of their era.

While all of those aforementioned safeties earned All-Pro recognition at least twice due to ample talent and playmaking ability, Carroll also believes each of those star players shined brightly because of their energy, passion, and mindset between the lines. When assessing newly acquired safety Jamal Adams in comparison, those three qualities jump off the tape, further explaining why the Seahawks were willing to part with two first-round picks to get him.

"Watch him play, watch the juice that he brings, watch the energy that he feels playing this game that he loves, and how that affects the people around him," Carroll told reporters on Monday. "I know that that's going to carry over to the locker room, I just don't know that for a fact yet. I've just been able to watch him on the field, and all of the fire and the juice that comes out of, that it is what I've loved about this game since I was a little kid."

Growing up in rural Texas, Adams became immersed in football and was a student of the game from a young age. Taking after his father George, who played six seasons as a running back for the Giants and Patriots, he starred as a two-way player in high school before transitioning full-time to safety at LSU.

Always hunting for the football and flying all over the field, Adams' love for the game can be witnessed every single snap. Beyond simply being one of the most talented defenders in football, Carroll believes his infectious enthusiasm and intensity will have a favorable ripple effect on all three levels of Seattle's defense right away.

"This guy loves what he does, and he cares so much that the passion just exploded out of him at times, which is exactly what you've seen in players that we've had in our program for years," Carroll commented. "So to have a chance to add that to our team, forget all the playmaking stuff, it's that element of mentality that I love to add, so that Bobby [Wagner] gets to play with a guy like that, and [Jarran] Reed gets to play with a guy like that, and Bruce [Irvin], and they'll all feed off of each other, because we all love to be that way. That's what we love about this game is cutting it loose and letting it go and getting to that primal mentality that this game allows."

While at USC, Carroll reminisced about his team occasionally being forced to cancel practice because Polamalu would get into heated altercations with running back Justin Fargas and it became "too dangerous."  Since he hasn't had a chance to work with Adams in person yet, he doesn't know how the fourth-year defender's mentality will play out at practice. But if it's similar to the Hall of Famer, he'd welcome it.

"I don't know that Jamal has that dynamic to him. We'll find out. If he does, I'd love to see it," Carroll smiled. "We'll control it and we'll figure it out."

In terms of his actual physical abilities, Carroll sees a lot of Polamalu, Thomas, and other safeties he's coached in Adams' game. With a vast array of tools, he's a hard-hitting, instinctive defender who boasts the athleticism necessary to shoot into the backfield as a run defender and blitzer while also excelling in one-on one coverage as well as zone schemes.

"He's an attack-oriented guy. The kind of guys I've seen in years past, that when they see things, they don't hesitate, they go, and they're very, very decisive and very physical and creative as well. It takes creativity to see the opportunities and then seize those opportunities, and he's got all of that - great burst, physical nature, and then also the athleticism to make the plays happen."

Until Carroll can finally see Adams on the field with teammates such as Quandre Diggs and Marquise Blair later this month, he will left to imagine where the dynamic playmaker fits into Seattle's defensive plans. Without the benefit of any on-field offseason work to this stage, it will take time to figure out how to best incorporate the "uniqueness" of all three of those players together.

Once everything starts to mesh in coming weeks at training camp, however, Carroll has been around the block enough to know the Seahawks have brought the complete package to the Pacific Northwest. Having already coached many great safeties in his decorated career, he can't wait to see how Adams' fiery personality and diverse skill set impact the performance of those around him.

"We want to be as juiced and jacked up to play this game as anybody who's ever been in the history of the game. Well, this is a guy that understands that, that's where he wants to live, so he's going to affect us in a really positive way."