Sleepless In Seattle
How Jamal Adams Makes the Seahawks Super Bowl Contenders
Last week, I wrote about Jamal Adams’s list of teams he would be happy to be traded to. As his relationship with the New York Jets, specifically with head coach Adam Gase, has begun to deteriorate over the past year, the writing was on the wall - it was only a matter of time before the All-Pro safety was traded. On Saturday, the Seattle Seahawks made it official - they would be sending safety Bradley McDougald, two first-round picks, and a third-round pick to the Jets in exchange for Adams. In my article detailing where Adams fit in best, I spoke about how his arrival would make any team a clear-cut Super Bowl contender. He’s the best safety in the NFL and impacts the game in a multitude of ways. The Seattle defense was in desperate need of a game-changer like him.
The Jets had made it very clear in recent weeks that they would not be trading away Adams unless they received a significant trade offer. This deal qualifies as the Jets pick up an additional two first-round picks to continue to fill out their young roster as well as a solid safety in McDougald who had 70 tackles and 2 interceptions last season.
Current Seahawks’ general manager John Schneider made arguably his biggest career acquisition with the trade for Adams.
Jamal Adams is under contract through the 2021 season, at which point Seattle will need to negotiate a contract extension with their new defensive superstar.
John Schneider was named the Seahawks’ general manager ahead of the 2010 season concurrently with the hiring of Pete Carrol as the head coach. Schneider has done a great job of evaluating late-round talent, including taking Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman with 5th-round picks, Malcolm Smith and Chris Carson with 7th-round picks, and Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett with 3rd-round picks. He hasn’t had a great history with first-round picks, though, as he has two slam dunk first-round picks - Earl Thomas and Bruce Irvin - in his time as the GM. The other players have been relatively ineffective or injured.
It is highly unlikely the Seahawks would have found someone nearly as impactful as Adams with the handful of draft picks they sent to the Jets. For New York, they get a decent haul for a player who they never should have needed to trade away in the first place. Adams is going to absolutely transform the Seahawks’ defense in a variety of ways. He’s an incredible leader, both vocally and with the way he identifies offensive formations and calls out adjustments to his teammates. Seriously, go watch some of his stuff on YouTube - he’s a cerebral mercenary out there. Brett Kollmann did an awesome job of breaking it down here -
Per PFF, Adams was the third-most efficient tackler at the safety position last year (minimum 900 snaps). He was also the eighth-most productive pass-rushing safety among players at his position with at least 500 pass-rush snaps. He had 6.5 sacks and 13 quarterback hits last year which is incredible production from the safety position. Adams is also a stud in coverage - he ranked top-ten in yards per coverage snap (minimum 480 snaps) and his elite tackling allowed him to give up just 58 yards after the catch and 2 touchdowns on the season. It’s rare that a safety is above-average in all three of tackling/run-stopping, pass-rushing, and pass-coverage, but you can pretty easily make the case that Adams is elite in all three. He’s an outstanding athlete and should immediately make the Seahawks’ defense one of the best in the NFL.
So who does Adams join in Seattle? For starters, the Seahawks employ the best middle linebacker in the NFL, Bobby Wagner, who has been a First-Team All-Pro player in five of the last six seasons. The Seahawks also have some great secondary talent in Quandre Diggs, Shaquill Griffin, and recent trade acquisition Quinton Dunbar, all of whom ranked in the top 25 of their respective positions last season. One area the Seahawks could really use some help is in the pass-rush - they ranked just 16th in team pass-rush win rate per ESPN, and that’s with Jadeveon Clowney who recently departed in free agency. The team also has a ton of room to improve in their rush defense, as Football Outsiders graded them as the sixth-worst in run defense last season. Jamal Adams’ Jets ranked 2nd in the league in run defense per FO, and he should be able to transform Seattle in that regard. The combination of Adams and Wagner should have all Seahawks fans excited as those two might be the best safety/linebacker duo the NFL has seen since Ed Reed and Ray Lewis.
The arrival of Jamal Adams in Seattle will give the team the best defense they have had in years, probably since the Legion of Boom defense. Russell Wilson has buoyed an elite offensive attack for the past several years and the team’s run offense has been one of the league’s best, but the defense hasn’t been up-to-par to get the team back to the Super Bowl. The NFC West figures to be the toughest division in the NFL with the 49ers and Rams both recent NFC Champs and the Cardinals one of the fastest-rising teams in football. Adams will give the Seahawks a chance to win every week, though, and the best chance to get back to the Super Bowl since Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor patrolled the defense.
