Seahawks S Jamal Adams to Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

Just one game into a new season, Seattle will have to move forward without one of its biggest stars as Adams braces for season-ending knee surgery and questions about his future come to the forefront.

RENTON, Wash. - While the Seahawks are riding high after a thrilling 17-16 victory over Russell Wilson and the Broncos on Monday Night Football, the win came at a huge cost with star safety Jamal Adams now officially lost for the season.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Adams will be placed on injured reserve and undergo season-ending surgery to fix a torn quadriceps tendon suffered in Monday's win. Per Rapoport, the star safety is still working on figuring out when he will have surgery and who will perform the operation.

Adams left early in the second quarter after injuring his knee on a third down blitz. Coming through the line untouched, the two-time All-Pro initially wasn't able to wrap up Wilson in the pocket, but he recovered to hit the quarterback as he threw and cause an incompletion, forcing the Broncos to punt.

In visible pain after the play, Adams limped his way to the sideline and quickly entered Seattle's blue injury tent for evaluation. Shortly after, he was listed as doubtful to return and with him unable to put weight on his injured left leg, medical personnel helped load him onto a medical cart and he was escorted off the field.

Injuries have been a persistent issue for Adams ever since arriving in a blockbuster trade with the Jets two years ago. The 27-year old underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder after the 2020 season and again last winter after re-injuring the shoulder in a Week 13 win over the 49ers. In addition, he has had multiple surgeries to repair troublesome fingers, including having two fingers fused this offseason and re-breaking one of those fingers in the first training camp practice.

"It sucks man," Fellow safety Quandre Diggs said of Adams' injury after Monday's game. "This guy has had a hell of a camp. He's had a hell of an offseason. You hate to see it. You know, especially Jamal being one of my closest friends. It's tough."

There's never a good time to suffer an injury, but Diggs pointed out that Adams was in a great place mentally after spending the offseason rehabbing from several surgeries and was "the most comfortable he's been around here." Early returns playing in coordinator Clint Hurtt's hybrid 3-4 defense looked promising for the disruptive playmaker.

Now, the Seahawks will have to wait until next year to see him wreak havoc. Only a year after signing a record-breaking four-year, $70 million contract extension, this latest injury may also cast some doubts about his long-term future with the franchise. He carries a dead cap hit north of $21 million in 2023, so they won't be moving on from him next year. But they would save nearly $9 million against the cap in 2024 while incurring a $14.22 million dead cap hit if they decide to part ways at that point.

It would be a devastating blow for general manager John Schneider and the front office after dealing multiple high draft picks to acquire Adams in the first place and making him the NFL's highest-paid safety. While Adams can't be blamed for bad luck in the injury department, those immense investments haven't come close to paying off and the trade looks like a massive whiff for the organization at this point.

Overall, Adams missed nine games in his first two seasons while playing through injuries in several other contests. If his 2022 season is over after just one game as it appears, he will have missed 26 games in three seasons.

After Adams exited on Monday night, veteran Josh Jones replaced him in the lineup, finishing with seven tackles in the win and drawing praise from coach Pete Carroll on Wednesday. The former second-round pick out of North Carolina State is expected to start alongside Diggs from here on out, while Ryan Neal should step in as a nickel and dime defender when Seattle deploys three safety looks defensively.

In a corresponding roster move to fill Adams' spot on the 53-man roster, Rapoport reported the Seahawks have signed cornerback Teez Tabor off of the Falcons practice squad. A former second-round pick for the Lions in 2017, the 6-foot, 190-pound defender has appeared in 28 career games, producing 50 tackles and a quarterback hit. He played in six games as a safety for the Bears in 2021 and will now reunite with associate head coach Sean Desai in the Pacific Northwest.

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