Can Seahawks’ Jamal Adams Re-Emerge as Game-Wrecker?

Jamal Adams hasn't been able to live up to the record-breaking contract he signed with the Seattle Seahawks. What’s next?

In what has become an all-too-familiar sight, Jamal Adams rejoined the Seattle Seahawks for their mandatory minicamp earlier this month as a bystander, watching from the sidelines as he recovers from yet another significant injury.

Since arriving in Seattle after a blockbuster trade with the New York Jets shortly before the start of the 2020 season, Adams has struggled to stay on the field, missing a grand total of 25 regular season games with a laundry list of ailments. After having the labrum in his left shoulder repaired twice and fingers fused after the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he once again finds himself in all-out rehabilitation mode trying to come back from a difficult torn quad tendon suffered in the season opener last year.

Last summer, while he didn't participate at all in the offseason program, Adams managed to clear every hurdle in his recovery in time to return to action for the start of Seattle's training camp. This time around, however, given the severity of his latest injury, nobody knows when the former All-Pro will be able to take the field again.

When asked at the conclusion of minicamp whether or not the Seahawks had concerns about Adams being ready for the season, coach Pete Carroll indicated it's still too early to know with training camp less than six weeks away.

“No, not yet. We'll see," Carroll responded. "Let's get to camp first and see what happens. It may be too much to ask, I don't know. We'll see.”

Due to the constant barrage of injuries and inconsistent play on the field when healthy since joining the Seahawks three years ago, Adams has been under fire from experts and fans alike, with some going as far as questioning whether the team should consider eating the rest of his salary and moving on rather than doubling down and absorbing even greater sunken cost.

Some of the criticism is warranted, as the franchise surrendered a bounty of draft choices, including two first-round picks, to acquire Adams from the Jets. One year later, the organization handed him a four-year, $70 million extension to make him the highest-paid safety in NFL history, a deal he has not earned to this point.

Unfortunately, while Adams did earn Second-Team All-Pro honors in 2020 after breaking the NFL's sack record for defensive backs, Seattle hasn't receiving anything close to an adequate return in investment from the oft-injured safety since he inked his new contract amid a hold-in at training camp two years ago.

Since registering 9.5 sacks in 2020 and receiving his record-breaking contract worth more than $17.5 million per year, Adams has only played in 13 games, or fewer than half of the possible regular season games over the past two seasons. When he has been on the field, he hasn't played to the level expected from a star of his caliber, generating a grand total of eight pressures and no sacks as a blitzer and producing two interceptions and three pass breakups.

Though injuries and questionable usage of his unique skill set scheme-wise have been major factors, including mystifyingly only blitzing 51 times in 13 games in 2021, Adams hasn't come close to living up the massive contract he signed to this point. Sticking with him, the Seahawks need the former LSU star to rediscover his former disruptive self, as no player may have greater sway in regard to the team's chances of making a deep playoff run in '23.

Looking at where Seattle struggled as a defense last season, a healthy Adams could be the panacea for everything that ailed the team, including shoring up a porous run defense that got gashed week after week last fall and finished 30th out of 32 teams yielding 150.2 rushing yards per game.

Renowned for his toughness, physicality, and relentless pursuit, Adams has racked up 352 tackles in his career and according to Pro Football Focus, he finished in the top five among safeties in run stops three times in his first five seasons. He also finished 10th in that category in 2019 with the Jets, perennially standing out as one of the premier run defenders at his position.

Bringing No. 33 back into the fold as a hard-hitting box safety and nickel linebacker in theory should immediately bolster the Seahawks' maligned run defense. But if used properly, his impact should be equally beneficial for the team's pass rush and coverage.

While Adams didn't come anywhere close to replicating his numbers from his first season in Seattle and didn't record a single sack in 2021, he was still an effective weapon chasing after quarterbacks despite being held back by the scheme. With far fewer opportunities to blitz and opponents paying extra attention to him anytime he creeped up to the line of scrimmage, he still posted a respectable 13.7 percent pressure rate.

The Seahawks can't and shouldn't blitz Adams just for the sake of sending extra pressure. But at the same time, he has a special set of tools that make him a unique weapon capable of putting immense stress on an opposing offense and not taking advantage of those strengths with a creative approach is coaching malpractice.

In coverage, Adams made marked improvements in his second season with the Seahawks before succumbing to a shoulder injury in Week 13. Though PFF gave him an ugly 47.4 coverage grade, he only allowed a 57.8 percent completion rate and 69.9 passer rating on 45 targets, which both ranked in the top 10 among qualified safeties.

Most notably, Adams shined defending tight ends, including shutting down 49ers tight end George Kittle. In two matchups against Seattle's bitter rival that season, he allowed three receptions on seven targets for 45 yards and one first down when matched up with the former All-Pro, registering a pass breakup and fulfilling the role the team envisioned he would when they traded for him.

Considering those numbers, while Adams' overall play has been uneven throughout his tenure in Seattle, he still has been a difference maker when the team has deployed him properly. And before going down last year in the season opener, coordinator Clint Hurtt appeared to have an excellent plan in place to maximize his rare skill set, as he flew all over the field making plays in that game before going down.

As Carroll noted at the end of camp, Adams' health remains the biggest question mark for the player and team as a new season rapidly approaches. Nearly a year after undergoing surgery to repair his torn quad tendon, he has regularly been posting videos on social media documenting his progress and has made substantial strides mobility-wise, but obstacles remain before he can don a helmet and shoulder pads again.

“There are benchmarks," Carroll explained. "There's strength things that he's got to get back to full. I think range of motion is pretty good but I think we're talking about strength right now. And it's just time on task, and so it's really clear and he's got really good guys he's working with back home. And so being here was really important that we saw him... He's a great competitor. He's going to do everything he can to get it right. As soon as he can be right, he'll be right.”

Knowing the investments Seattle has made in Adams, he won't be rushed back onto the field. By signing versatile defender Julian Love in free agency, the organization has afforded itself flexibility to be patient and ensure the high-priced safety fully recovers. If they need to wait a few weeks into the regular season for him to "be right" before unleashing him, echoing Carroll's words, so be it.

But thinking big picture, for the Seahawks to reach their lofty aspirations competing for championships, getting a healthy Adams back into the mix will be crucial. Assuming he rounds back into pre-injury form, handling his return properly could be the difference between being a fringe playoff team again in January and taking a major step forward back into the realm of Super Bowl contender in a wide-open NFC.

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