The Jamal Adams mistake (IMO)

Look, I really like the guy as a person. He brings fire and is a good teammate. And he is a great football player and athlete. But he is not going to be worth how much we will need to pay him next year. So if we do we will either really screw ourselves with the salary cap by making him the highest paid safety in football, or we let him walk and that means we wasted all that draft capitol. I was excited when we traded for him but in hindsight I think it's a mistake. Like I said I like the guy, but he is a DB who doesn't do a lot in coverage. The Seahawks need better pass coverage. I believe JS and PC messed up on this one. Especially if Russ wants a better line, we can't be overpaying a SS. We hurt ourselves with that trade and it's very unlikely he is here beyond next year. I'd say trade him now like they were talking about doing after 1 season. Although I don't think that's happening either. Oh well.

It's hard to find All Pro players in the draft even when you are drafting early. Adams is a generational talent and will continue to create havoc in the opposing teams backfields for years. I predict as well he will surprise us as well with his abilities in coverage which I suspect will improve significantly in his 2nd season in the defence and with a return to health following his several surgeries (hand and hip) post season.

For sure it was a big price to pay to get him (2-1sts and 1-3rd) but his play certainly helped the team early, he made some key game saving tackles to , besides his record number of sacks. He's a player that has to schemed to protect against by opposing O's. To me he's worth paying and keeping as true difference maker. He is young and on the last year of a rookie contract for this season and will undoubtedly be a player the team will want to keep.

I guess we disagree about the player but I am 1000% with you on the real need to improve the OLine at LG and C and there needs to be some succession plan to replace Brown as well.

If he doesn't do much in coverage then it will have been a mistake. However, the Seahawks traded for him because they thought he could cover, and the coverage plays he is getting dinged for last season were mostly when he was playing through some serious injuries.

Some are also uncomfortable with what they see as gimmicky sacks coming from a blitzing safety. Sacks are valuable wherever they come from, and a third down sack from a blitz is just as good as an interception in the secondary.

Lastly, remember that we traded for Jamal at the end of July and he had to figure things out in the regular season due to lack of practice due to COVID. He will have infinitely more experience with the scheme entering game 1 this season than he did last season.

I don't have a problem with skepticism here but 2020 was just a weird season to be putting too much emphasis on.

Welshers":v8cyge2k said:

Look, I really like the guy as a person. He brings fire and is a good teammate. And he is a great football player and athlete. But he is not going to be worth how much we will need to pay him next year. So if we do we will either really screw ourselves with the salary cap by making him the highest paid safety in football, or we let him walk and that means we wasted all that draft capitol. I was excited when we traded for him but in hindsight I think it's a mistake. Like I said I like the guy, but he is a DB who doesn't do a lot in coverage. The Seahawks need better pass coverage. I believe JS and PC messed up on this one. Especially if Russ wants a better line, we can't be overpaying a SS. We hurt ourselves with that trade and it's very unlikely he is here beyond next year. I'd say trade him now like they were talking about doing after 1 season. Although I don't think that's happening either. Oh well.

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Agree 100%. Hated the trade then, hate it now.

There are multiple things going on here.

First of all, CoVID made all 2021 draft picks essentially worthless. The draft is a crapshoot, add the CoVID disruptions to multiple levels of college football and the draft becomes a crapshoot with loaded dice.

Second of all Adams is not really a safety. He is a linebacker, in the modern spread offense NFL. KJ Wright and Jamal Adams play the same position conceptually in the defense. I have a feeling KJ will walk this off-season which means the 2021 Seahawks will have Adams, Brooks, Wager as the linebackers with Neal and Diggs as the safeties. More NFL teams are running three safety sets as a base defense and Adams will be that box safety/outside linebacker.

jammerhawk":18l3f3o4 said:

It's hard to find All Pro players in the draft even when you are drafting early. Adams is a generational talent and will continue to create havoc in the opposing teams backfields for years. I predict as well he will surprise us as well with his abilities in coverage which i suspect will improve significantly in his 2nd season in the defence and with a return to health following his several surgeries post season.

For sure it was a big price to pay to get him (2-1sts and 1 -3rd) but his play certainly helped the team early, he made some key game saving tackles to , besides his record number of sacks. He's a player that has to schemed to protect against by opposing O's. To me he's worth paying and keeping as true difference maker. He is young and on the last year of a rookie contract for this season and will undoubtedly be a player the team will want to keep.

I guess we disagree about the player but I am 1000% with you on the real need to improve the OLine at LG and C and there needs to be some succession plan to replace Brown as well.

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I agree he's great. I think money is just the biggest issue. Is he good enough to dominate a good portion of our cap? Improving the line is going to be so hard with no money. That's what's scary.

The TV deals will help clarify the cap situation and I can't believe the league and players will allow this claw back of cap to continue for long before there is a revolt and or a hard fight over the situation. we all hope there will soon be a return to some form of new normal where fans can go to games again but time alone will provide that answer.

At present the team is paying a very large % of it's cap on the LBs and this will need to be revisited in order to re-assign the cap to the OLine. It's a balancing act. Adams if not a true SS is a WOLB with extraordinary blitzing ability. Adams is a rover type SS (hybrid type player). As the QBs become more mobile he becomes an answer to the problem of defending mobile QBs. His blitzing skills are special and very valuable.

sdog1981":whephjo4 said:

CoVID made all 2021 draft picks essentially worthless

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The Seahawks could've gotten a stud RB like Najee Harris, Travis Etienne or Javonte Williams with that pick. Have no idea what other positions look like though.

Giving up a 1st+1st+3rd+$18M APY for a Safety or whatever you want to call him :141847_bnono:

Imo he was brought in as a piece to what they thought was going to be a super bowl run last year. If they won the trophy it would of been worth it, but they failed. So now your stuck with a gimmick guy who sucks in coverage with a real lack of draft capital as a result. So you either commit long term or he walks. Obviously it wasn't Adams fault the seahawks choked as the holes in other areas were the bigger issue as well as coaching and relying on bad draft picks.

I think "sucks in coverage" is a gross exaggeration.

massari":2p4slrfo said:

sdog1981":2p4slrfo said:

CoVID made all 2021 draft picks essentially worthless

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The Seahawks could've gotten a stud RB like Najee Harris, Travis Etienne or Javonte Williams with that pick. Have no idea what other positions look like though.

Giving up a 1st+1st+3rd+$18M APY for a Safety :141847_bnono:

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The draft is April 29th, we have no idea who they could pick. Remember that Sony Michel and Penny were drafted before Nick Chubb.

10+ sacks with missing four games? You'd pay a DE 15M+ for that kind of production.

So no, I don't think the trade was a mistake. This defense DESPERATELY needed a playmaker like Adams to get the intimidation and sack production factor back.

Now am I nervous as hell that he's already breaking down, and we're about to hand him 50M+ when he might miss a bunch of games every year through this contract with injuries?

Absolutely. But IMO we don't have a choice. You gave up two first rounders, you have to sign him. Trading him for a far less package deal isn't an option for me.

If they were gonna use the first rounders on running backs, I'd trade 10 of them for Jamal Adams.

what Largent said...….so much...….

If the Hawks miss the playoffs the next 2 or 3 seasons , his trade deal and probable blockbuster extension will be a big reason why . IMO

Maelstrom787":23mzmpa8 said:

If they were gonna use the first rounders on running backs, I'd trade 10 of them for Jamal Adams.

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That would be one 1st round pick, but what about next years 1st and the 3rd? What about the $18M APY to bring in an elite free agent?

You need cheap young talent to compete with a salary cap.

Sgt. Largent":uk9f4mf6 said:

10+ sacks with missing four games? You'd pay a DE 15M+ for that kind of production.

So no, I don't think the trade was a mistake. This defense DESPERATELY needed a playmaker like Adams to get the intimidation and sack production factor back.

Now am I nervous as hell that he's already breaking down, and we're about to hand him 50M+ when he might miss a bunch of games every year through this contract with injuries?

Absolutely. But IMO we don't have a choice. You gave up two first rounders, you have to sign him. Trading him for a far less package deal isn't an option for me.

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Here is his injury history, last year was tough for him and yet he set a record for sacks by a S and was a disruptive force despite having some significant injuries that interfered with catching a football and tackling though that wasn't noticeably a weakness.

https://sportsinjurypredictor.com/playe ... adams/9508

I don't know if he is breaking down due to injuries but the team will see on that front this coming season.

jammerhawk":150gcbej said:

Sgt. Largent":150gcbej said:

10+ sacks with missing four games? You'd pay a DE 15M+ for that kind of production.

So no, I don't think the trade was a mistake. This defense DESPERATELY needed a playmaker like Adams to get the intimidation and sack production factor back.

Now am I nervous as hell that he's already breaking down, and we're about to hand him 50M+ when he might miss a bunch of games every year through this contract with injuries?

Absolutely. But IMO we don't have a choice. You gave up two first rounders, you have to sign him. Trading him for a far less package deal isn't an option for me.

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Here is his injury history, last year was tough for him and yet he set a record for sacks by a S and was a disruptive force despite having some significant injuries that interfered with catching a football and tackling though that wasn't noticeably a weakness.

https://sportsinjurypredictor.com/playe ... adams/9508

I don't know if he is breaking down due to injuries but the team will see on that front this coming season.

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I hope the recent injuries are a fluke, but having watched Adams all year, I don't think so.

He plays like Kam played, balls out, nasty hitter, full speed and reckless. Which is awesome, but it's not awesome when it comes to hurting yourself.

Maybe Adams can be coached up to be smarter about how he protects himself. We'll see. Glad he's a Hawk, amazing generational safety. But doesn't stop the worrying about the way he plays and injuries this year.

Maelstrom787":2a2olvrx said:

If they were gonna use the first rounders on running backs, I'd trade 10 of them for Jamal Adams.

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Ok, that got a :laugh:

Tough to say, but regardless it is sunk cost. We're basically stuck with him for at least one more year. The really "sucky" part of it is having him play his contract season in 2021, with a decreased salary cap and a really weird year anyway. He's gonna be asking for and getting (from somewhere) a ton of money. Nobody values safeties more than Pete, so his chances of hanging around are pretty good IMO.

Arguably, as said above somewhat incorrectly, Adams is a bit of a hybrid safety/rush LB, who might be the best in-the-box safety in the league. A little soft, perhaps, in his coverage skills but a heat seeking missile for QBs and RBs. He has the general look of a Polamalu type, who may free lance a bit, but when he guesses right he is the ultimate disrupter.

I think we have to bite the bullet a bit and keep him.

Sgt. Largent":tmmwgta5 said:

10+ sacks with missing four games? You'd pay a DE 15M+ for that kind of production.

So no, I don't think the trade was a mistake. This defense DESPERATELY needed a playmaker like Adams to get the intimidation and sack production factor back.

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Blitzing a Safety has huge consequence, and how many of his sacks were unblocked?

Marquise Blair, if healthy can blitz too.