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Run It Back': Should Jets Sign Jamal Adams?


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By Anthony Liccardi

New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas may not have a more successful move than trading safety Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks. Sending a disgruntled star for draft capital that would eventually net receiver Garrett Wilson and offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker is the type of trade that keeps front offices employed and accelerates rebuilds.

The Jets won the breakup, but four seasons later, Adams is once again a topic of discussion amongst the New York faithful. Largely unsubstantiated rumors about Adams’ future – and the possibility of a Jets return – have permeated the discourse.

After liking a tweet about Seattle cutting him and replying “run it back” to a fan of his first NFL team, the Adams decision deserves to be revisited.

There has been little to no actual reporting about Adams becoming a cap casualty and finding his way back to the Big Apple. But for the sake of hypothetical offseason situations, Adams shouldn’t be a target for the Jets in free agency.

Simply put, Adams isn’t a fit for head coach Robert Saleh’s defense. Adams makes his money in the box, where he’s spent the plurality of his snaps every year of his career except for 2021 and 2022 – the latter in which he played just 15 snaps.

Both of New York’s starting safeties spent most of their time away from the line of scrimmage, which makes sense given the coverages Saleh frequents.

Per MatchQuarters and Pro Football Focus, the league average rates for quarters and Cover 6 were 15.2 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively. The Jets ran the second most quarters in the NFL (27.6 percent) and were above average in Cover 6 (10.8 percent).

Both ask their safeties to rely more on open-field coverage skills and athleticism as they are frequently asked to cover the deeper parts of the field, whether it be matching a vertical route or being responsible for a deep half.

That has never been the best of Adams’ game. Per PFF, Adams hasn’t had a coverage grade over 52.5 in a non-2021 season since he left New York. For reference, his 50.7 coverage grade this year ranked 74th of 82 safeties with as many snaps in coverage. That 52.5 mark from 2020 would have ranked 72nd.

Adams hasn’t been healthy recently, either. He suffered a thigh quad tear that cost him almost the entirety of the 2022 season, and many feel he wasn’t playing healthy this season where he also suffered a concussion.

Whether he was playing hurt – which then-head coach Pete Carroll suggested – or not, he struggled in 2023, putting forth the worst run defense and tackling grades of his career. He didn’t play in the team’s final four games.

It’s hard to see a scenario in which Douglas is incentivized to sign Adams, whose best football is behind him and isn’t an ideal fit in the back seven.

The safety may have already worn out his potential welcome.

After forcing his way out the first time out, Adams returned to the Jets conversation in 2023 when he insulted a beat reporter’s wife after a poor play of his was pointed out on social media.

Since promising to bring about change in the fortunes of Jets fans, Adams left when the road got tough. That’s his prerogative, and doing what’s best for his career isn’t something that should be villainized. But he mocked New York on his way out, and in the years since hasn’t proven to be the franchise-changer many envisioned the sixth-overall pick would become. It’s not surprising so many fans reacted negatively to the possibility of his return.

Since promising to bring about change in the fortunes of Jets fans, Adams left when the road got tough. That’s his prerogative, and doing what’s best for his career isn’t something that should be villainized. But he mocked New York on his way out, and in the years since hasn’t proven to be the franchise-changer many envisioned the sixth-overall pick would become. It’s not surprising so many fans reacted negatively to the possibility of his return.

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Pass. Had a couple of good seasons here but wound up getting completely exposed as a major liability in coverage. He'd have probably been a much better player in the early 2000's when you wanted that intimidator type safety that can lay big hits, but that type of player has been phased out of todays game. He got the money he was looking for right as the wheels were coming off. He made out well for himself but it doesn't appear he has the skill or the durability to be an every down safety anymore. Maybe he could land on a team as rotational nickel LB but I'm not sure that ego of his would allow him to take that type of roll. He'll latch on somewhere next year, but will probably be out of the league soon after.

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all kidding aside

He was born to play the hybrid role they have Sherwood in and would be awesome at it. However, he has not been available to play for basically 2 years and Sherwood is good enough and all resources available need to go to protecting Rodgers and the offense 
 

 

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The Jets need to find a way to find someone to play MLB who is much cheaper than Mosley.   Maybe that can be Mosley.  

They did look at Keanu Neal, a S, for that role.  I think he ended up doing that for the Cowboys.  

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1 minute ago, varjet said:

The Jets need to find a way to find someone to play MLB who is much cheaper than Mosley.   Maybe that can be Mosley.  

They did look at Keanu Neal, a S, for that role.  I think he ended up doing that for the Cowboys.  

Mosley gotta go or take a major pay cut. We have too many holes on offense and if we have any dreams of re-signing Huff then it becomes even more important of a move.

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50 minutes ago, Jet_Engine1 said:

a christmas story GIF

Go. Go and put the Lifebuoy soap in your mouth and stay there until you learn the error of your ways for suggesting that. 

Top 3 Christmas movie ever.  Probably top 2 for me.

So many things in that movie remind me of my childhood.  😁

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