Myles Adams Ready For Rise Up For D-Line Depleted Seattle Seahawks

Likely to be without at least one of their top defensive tackles in Detroit, the Seahawks will be counting on Myles Adams to pull his weight as a replacement.

Aug 18, 2022; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Myles Adams (95) sacks Chicago Bears quarterback Trevor Siemian (15) during the second quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

RENTON, Wash. - Since first arriving as a member of the practice squad in December 2020, Myles Adams has found himself in a bit of a predicament over the course of three-plus seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

On one hand, after showcasing his value in a pair of regular season games in 2021, Adams has been more than good enough to stick around on Seattle's 53-man roster, including spending all of last season on the active roster. He suited up for 21 games over the past two seasons, logging 277 snaps on defense during that span.

On the other hand, however, Adams hasn't been able to quite crack a consistent role in the team's defensive line rotation, in part due to the talent and depth around him in the trenches. Along with being deactivated as a healthy scratch for five games after Leonard Williams arrived in a midseason trade last October, he only has dressed for one of the Seahawks first three games so far this year.

But with Byron Murphy II and Williams both missing practice time this week after exiting last Sunday's 24-3 win over Miami with injuries, Seattle could be without two of its best players up front, creating significant depth questions for the team heading into a Monday night clash with Detroit. Fortunately for coach Mike Macdonald and his staff, they have plenty of confidence in Adams rising to the occasion when called upon to help fill the void.

"Myles has been working," Macdonald told reporters prior to Wednesday's practice. "Really, it's been a little bit of a numbers thing on why he hasn't been up. It's nothing that he hasn't been doing in practice or anything like that. He's coming off an injury late in camp. But he's a guy that's had a tremendous offseason and if his number's called, he'll be ready to go. He gives you some different positional flexibility inside. I think he'd play like B-gap and out, which will help us with where we're at."

Now in his fifth NFL season, Adams hasn't received a ton of chances to impress in regular season action, but when the Seahawks have needed him to contribute, he has flashed both as a run defender and pass rusher in limited snaps.

In 2022, after he finally broke through to make Seattle's roster out of training camp for the first time, Adams pitched in six tackles, two pass deflections, and a tackle for loss. Last year, even with a diminished number of snaps compared to the year prior with him not being active for most of the games in the second half of the schedule, per Pro Football Focus, he finished fourth on the team with a 16.7 percent pass rush win rate and recorded his first career sack.

As Macdonald noted, Adams' versatility should be especially valuable right now if Williams and/or Murphy has to miss at least one game. Though he's a bit undersized at 300 pounds and his calling card remains a quick first step as a penetrator, he has played basically every position and alignment for the Seahawks over the past three years, which has helped him carve out a lengthy career as a former undrafted signee out of Rice.

When Seattle had injuries strike at nose tackle late in the 2022 season, Adams stepped up admirably, using his low center of gravity to his advantage battling through double teams and holding up better than anticipated on 20 snaps shading the A gap. He also saw at least 20 snaps at both defensive end spots in 4i/5-tech alignment to go with 122 snaps at defensive tackle in 3-tech alignment, the position he has played most in the NFL.

Given that previous experience, the Seahawks shouldn't have any hesitation about sliding Adams inside to replace Murphy's handful of snaps at the nose spot if necessary, though recent practice squad signings Matt Gotel and Quinton Bohanna could be elevated on Monday to address that need. If the preseason serves as any indication, most of his action will likely come at his preferred 3-tech spot or as a big end lined up head up on the tackle, two roles that Williams and Murphy have played extensively in Macdonald's defense thus far.

Regardless of Murphy and Williams' status rolling into Monday, neither will be 100 percent if they wind up playing and as a result, Adams should be in the mix for substantial snaps against a talented Lions offense that loves to run the football. If the Seahawks are going to keep their undefeated start going on the road in a hostile environment, they will need the dependable veteran to step up to the plate as the next man up as he's done several times before and provide quality snaps on all three downs.