Extending Jamal Adams’s contract has always been part of the plan for Joe Douglas and the Jets. They just didn’t want to do it until they absolutely had to.
New York hoped that Adams would understand this thought process. It hoped that Adams would be content playing out the fourth year of his rookie deal before he started seriously eying a new, lucrative contract appropriate for a player of his caliber. Unfortunately for the Jets, patience does not seem to be in the All-Pro safety’s vocabulary.
Fed up with not having a new contract, Adams requested a trade from the Jets on Thursday. Just don’t expect one to happen anytime soon.
If Douglas proved anything in his first year on the job as Jets general manager, it’s that he is not afraid to play hardball when he has to. In free agency, he stuck to his guns during contract negotiations, not budging off what he believed a player’s worth to be. Maintaining his ground netted the Jets some quality players like Pierre Desir and Breshad Perriman at relatively cheap prices. Douglas shelled out money when he had to but drove a hard bargain in all of his negotiations and refused to blink — a trait that some of New York’s recent failed front office executives lacked.
Contract negotiations with Adams have been far from the typical negotiation process with a star player. Adams has been openly campaigning for a new deal on social media since the beginning of the offseason despite having two years left on his rookie contract. He even resorted to calling out Douglas and New York’s front office, pegging it as a group that is “all talk no action.”
Douglas is actually the opposite of that quote. He has maintained that he wants to make Adams a “Jet for Life”, but would rather wait to extend him since New York has him under control through at least 2021. Now that Adams wants out of the Big Apple, Douglas is not going to bend over backward to give the disgruntled star what he wants.
The Jets have all of the leverage here. Remember, Adams still has time left on his initial $22.3 million contract with New York. He does not have to be traded right away. In reality, Douglas could hang onto Adams as long as he wants in an effort to salvage the situation and keep the All-Pro safety with the team if he actually wants to be there.
Adams can either play and continue to boost his value while the two sides work out a new deal, or he can sit on the sideline and continue to kick and scream until the Jets decide they have had enough of his act and trade him elsewhere — which seems to be what he is going for at this point.
Whatever Adams’ master plan is, don’t expect it to work. Douglas has already proven he is more than capable of holding his ground. He won’t have a problem doing it again.