Seahawks Absorbing Jamal Adams' Full Dead Cap Hit in 2024

Choosing to bite the bullet now rather than spread the dead cap hit out over two years, the Seattle Seahawks afforded themselves more flexibility for the future by releasing safety Jamal Adams.

Cleaning house with a long-term vision in mind, the Seattle Seahawks won't be releasing safety Jamal Adams with a post-June 1 designation as expected.

Per multiple sources to AllSeahawks.com, Seattle opted to absorb all of Adams' $20.8 million dead cap hit in 2024 rather than spreading it out over two seasons, saving $6.083 million in cap space. The team plans to release him on March 13, the first day of the new league year.

Given the size of his dead cap hit, most experts anticipated the Seahawks would cut Adams with the post-June 1 designation, creating more than $17 million in space on June 2 while eating another $10 million in dead cap in 2025. But this would have meant the team wouldn't have had access to those funds during free agency and a $10 million dead cap charge would have been on the books for 2025.

Injuries prevented Jamal Adams from playing to his potential over the past three seasons in Seattle and led to the team jettisoning him as a cap casualty

By choosing to do an outright release instead, though Seattle won't open up as much cap space, those funds will be available to use immediately re-signing its own players or outside free agents. In addition, without having a dead cap charge for Adams next season, general manager John Schneider now has more flexibility for restructuring a player such as Tyler Lockett to open up more space as needed.

Acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Jets prior to the 2020 season in exchange for two first-round picks and a third-round pick, Adams enjoyed a strong first season with the Seahawks, earning All-Pro honors while registering 9.5 sacks, a single season record for a defensive back. Awarding him for his efforts, the team inked him to a record-setting four-year, $70 million contract.

Unfortunately, Adams couldn't stay healthy for the rest of his disappointing tenure in Seattle, missing a grand total of 29 regular season games while finishing the year on injured reserve all three seasons. With his body breaking down from his physical style of play, he suffered a pair of torn labrums in his left shoulder and a torn quad tendon along with dislocated fingers that had to be fused.

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Playing in just 22 games over the past three seasons, Adams didn't record a sack during that span and often struggled in coverage. Once the Seahawks shut him down with lingering knee pain resulting from his torn quad injury in December, a decision on his future with the franchise already appeared to have been made with a cap hit of $26 million in 2024.

With Adams and Quandre Diggs both set to be released, Seattle now has significant questions to address at the safety position. Pro Bowl defender Julian Love will likely stay at the strong safety spot, but with 2023 sixth-round pick Jerrick Reed II recovering from a torn ACL, the team could look at reuniting new coach Mike Macdonald with free agent Geno Stone as a replacement at free safety, while the draft also remains an option to fill the void.