'Take Nothing for Granted!' Seattle Seahawks Jamal Adams Details Journey to Season Debut

Ready to strap on his helmet and shoulder pads and deliver hits for the first time in more than a calendar year, Jamal Adams hopes to provide an instant spark for the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football at the New York Giants after a brutal rehab from a severe injury.

RENTON, Wash. - Widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the NFL when healthy, Seattle Seahawks safety Jamal Adams couldn't have felt much lower as he kicked off arduous rehabilitation following surgery to repair a torn quad tendon last September.

Sporting a cast on the surgically-repaired leg for an excess of 20 weeks due to extensive scar tissue, Adams spent most of the 2022 season away from his teammates in his home state of Texas unable to take care of himself. Whether going to the bathroom or getting out of bed, even the most mundane of tasks required assistance from others and the light at the end of the tunnel felt so far away.

Nearly 13 months later, however, Adams will don a helmet and shoulder pads for the Seahawks again on Monday night against the Giants. Reflecting on a humbling experience more than a year after suffering the devastating injury, the three-time All-Pro opened up about the recovery process and the challenges he faced along the way.

"Talk about being up here and then just coming down, being in a wheelchair," Adams reflected. "It's a different ball game, so mentally I'm a lot stronger than I was last season before I hurt myself. But this injury, you talk about breaking up scar tissue and that type of magnitude, it's different."

Coming off of shoulder and finger surgeries in the offseason, Adams originally injured his quad while chasing after former teammate Russell Wilson on a blitz in Seattle's season opener, planting his foot left while the rest of his body was going right. With the quarterback ducking to try to avoid him, he torqued his body and the tendon gave out. After he tried to run to the sideline, he immediately knew he had suffered a serious injury after seeing his kneecap had been displaced from his knee.

Looking to get back to his playmaking ways, Jamal Adams will suit up for the Seahawks for the first time in 12 months as they travel to New Jersey to face the Giants on Monday Night Football / © Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Able to get off the field by pure adrenaline, Adams was carted to the locker room and quickly was ruled out for the remainder of the game, telling reporters on Friday that he even briefly pondered retirement in the aftermath of his latest injury. Later that week, he underwent surgery as his season came to a close after playing just 15 defensive snaps, creating questions about his short and long-term future.

"I thought about a lot of things. Is this going to be it for me? I didn't know," Adams recalled. "But I knew eventually, after I got that MRI, I told myself 'I'm going to be back.' I didn't know when or how, but I was going to figure it out and I knew if I kept my faith and I kept the ones around me that really love and support me, I knew I could make it out."

While confined to a wheelchair and reliant on others to handle everyday tasks for the better part of four months after the procedure, Adams made sure to document his struggles by capturing videos with his phone to ensure he would never forget the grind he endured. Once his cast was removed, he had to battle through a tedious "rebuild" re-learning to walk and eventually run while dealing with no shortage of obstacles in his path.

To help him keep his eye on the prize as he slowly worked towards his goal of returning to the field, Adams leaned on his family as well as teammate Jordyn Brooks, who was going through his own strenuous rehab coming back from a torn ACL. The two defenders trained and competed together throughout the spring, pushing each other past each checkpoint and providing positive reinforcement throughout their respective journeys.

Having been alongside Brooks for a good chunk of the offseason, while continuing to exercise patience pushing towards his own recovery finish line, Adams hasn't been surprised seeing his teammate play at a high level for the Seahawks only eight months after undergoing his own knee surgery.

"Two different injuries, but we were just feeding off each other energy-wise," Adams said. "When he was down, I was picking him up. When I was down, he was picking me up. We got through it together. Just to see him out there, it's a phenomenal thing and I know he's worked his tail off to get back out there. To see him making plays, it's not new. He was preparing for it."

Now, after playing the role of bystander for the first three games as he gradually progressed from participating in walkthroughs earlier this month to practicing in full for the first time last week, Adams will finally have his chance to return to his dynamic playmaking ways and will do so in a familiar setting.

Drafted sixth overall by the Jets in 2017 after a standout college career at LSU, Adams quickly emerged as a star playing his home games at MetLife Stadium. In three years with the franchise, he racked up 210 combined tackles, 12 sacks, and 28 tackles for loss, earning All-Pro distinction twice and making two Pro Bowl squads before a contract dispute led to him being traded to the Seahawks for two first-round picks in August 2020.

Knowing he wouldn't be ready to play in time for the preseason due to his ongoing rehab and would need extra practice time to get back into game shape, Adams circled Monday's matchup on the calendar as his target for returning to game action well before training camp, setting the stage for him to make his 2023 debut at his former stomping grounds against the team his father George Adams played four seasons for in the late 1980s.

"This was kind of my mindset and my goal to be back for Week 4," Adams remarked. "Obviously, it's a special place for me being back in New York, being back home, so I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Re-entering the fold fully healthy and in fantastic shape, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll indicated on Monday that Adams would not have any restrictions, though he could be on a snap count depending on how the game unfolds. As for where they will use him, last year's brief spell playing in defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt's hybrid 3-4 scheme should provide some clues.

Throughout training camp before he went down in Week 1, Seattle deployed Adams as a money linebacker in nickel and dime packages regularly at practice, lining him up in the box to take advantage of his physicality and blitzing ability. While he only played five snaps in the box and his injury unfortunately came on the same play, his lone blitz through the A-gap turned into a successful pressure that led to a third down incompletion by Wilson.

Considering Adams' immense success getting to quarterbacks over the years, including setting a new NFL record for defensive backs with 9.5 sacks in 2020, Hurtt will obviously look for the right opportunities to bring the defensive weapon as an extra rusher. His coverage skills against tight ends and big-bodied slot receivers also play well closer to the line of scrimmage, especially in three-safety sets with Quandre Diggs and Julian Love also on the field together.

Days before his much-anticipated season debut, Adams isn't worrying about where the Seahawks will play him in his first game action in more than 365 days. After staring at retirement and a possible career-threatening injury, he's simply thankful for the chance to suit up alongside his teammates again and hit somebody again after being sidelined all of last season.

"I haven't hit anybody in a long time, so I'm looking forward to it, I can tell you that,'' Adams said. "I won't take a play for granted, I won't take a moment or second for granted. Just being able to fly on an airplane with my teammates is going to be big for me. Just to be able to be able to come up here and speak is big for me... It's a real humbling experience that I went through, my mindset is a lot sharper... I'm looking forward to the journey and looking forward to the season. I'm excited to be back."