Tag: Jamal Adams contract

Seahawks create cap space by restructuring Jamal Adams contract

According to Field Yates at ESPN, Seattle will save $6.613 million.

The Seattle Seahawks have saved a nice chunk of salary cap space for the 2023 season by restructuring the contract for strong safety Jamal Adams.

According to Field Yates at ESPN, Seattle will save $6.613 million.

Prior to this news, the Seahawks had around $2.48 million in space according to Over the Cap, which should bring their total to around $9.1 million now.

That’s more than enough to sign a high-impact free agent at a position of need, if that’s the kind of thing the front office is interested in.

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Jamal Adams looking stronger in video he shared of himself running up stairs

Adams is still under contract for another three seasons

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While the team says they don’t know exactly when he’ll be back, Seattle Seahawks star strong safety Jamal Adams certainly looks like he’s getting closer to returning to the field. As most of us were enjoying the holiday, Adams was in the lab recovering from the torn quad he suffered in Week 1 that knocked him out for the rest of the 2022 season.

Adams shared this video of himself running up stairs yesterday.

Adams is still under contract for another three seasons and the cap numbers for any cut or trade scenario are too ugly to seriously contemplate. So, Seattle fans just have to hope Adams eventually gets back to 100% healthy and then can stay on the field for (most) of a full season.

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How much salary cap space do the Seahawks have after the Jamal Adams deal?

Seattle also has reason to celebrate.

The Seahawks made Jamal Adams a wealthy man yesterday, signing their star safety to a deal that included $38 million guaranteed. Based on his press conference yesterday, Adams is thrilled with his big payday, even if it’s not quite as much as he was hoping for.

Seattle also has reason to celebrate. In addition to locking in their most-important defensive piece outside of Bobby Wagner, the move created some additional cap space for this coming season. We now have some more details on the Adams contract thanks to Pro Football Talk. The signing saved Seattle $4.86 million in 2020 cap room, bringing their total to around $13 million.

That’s more than enough money to go out and fill one of this team’s roster holes in free agency. Right now, they’re pretty much all on the defensive side of the ball. Former Seahawks K.J. Wright, Quinton Dunbar and Richard Sherman are all worth a look.

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Seahawks make Jamal Adams NFL’s highest-paid safety, because they had no choice

The Seahawks just made Jamal Adams the NFL’s highest-paid safety. Whether they wanted to or not, because they had no choice.

Last season, Seahawks safety Jamal Adams had 62 solo tackles, 32 stops, 9.5 sacks, seven quarterback hits, and 16 quarterback hurries. Impressive numbers for a guy on a new team who missed four games due to injury, and played several games at less than 100%. Adams also was targeted 54 times in coverage, allowing 41 catches for 446 yards, 194 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 118.3.

But when it came to Adams’ future in Seattle, the only number that really mattered was two. That’s the number of first-round picks the Seahawks gave to the Jets for Adams’ services in the blockbuster trade the teams executed last July. Seattle gave up their first-round picks in 2021 and 2022, as well as a 2021 third-round pick, and safety Bradley McDougal for Adams and a 2022 fourth-round pick.

That’s a lot to give up for any safety, especially for a guy who wound up playing nearer to the ball than in the deep third most of the time in 2020. With Adams’ rookie contract running out at the end of the 2021 season, head coach Pete Carroll, general manager John Schneider, and Seattle’s salary cap experts had to put together a deal for Adams that would make him the NFL’s highest-paid safety. It’s not that they might or that they should — the Seahawks simply had no choice. Letting a guy walk after giving up that much for him just wasn’t going to happen.

And that’s exactly why it didn’t happen. On Tuesday, the Seahawks struck a new four-year, $70 million deal with Adams that guarantees him $38 million and makes Adams the NFL’s highest-paid safety. There had been a “stalemate” of sorts between player and team while the details got worked out, but there was only one way this was ever going to go — 100% in Adams’ favor, and that was true from the second the trade was done.

When the Bears traded their 2019 and 2020 first-round picks to the Raiders for edge-rusher Khalil Mack in 2018, they had already started work on a six-year, $141 million contract extension with $90 million in total guarantees over the life of the deal. After the Texans traded two first-round picks, plus a second-round pick, to the Dolphins for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and Kenny Stills, Houston signed Tunsil to a three-year, $66 million extension with $40 million fully guaranteed. And after the Rams traded two first-round picks to the Jaguars for Ramsey, they gave Ramsey a five-year, $100 million extension.

As ESPN’s Bill Barnwell recently pointed out, the three players who have recently been traded for two first-round picks, and went to their new teams without long-term club control, all set the market at their positions when they were re-signed… and they all did so quite decisively.

The deal wasn’t for $19 million annually, but the $17.5 million per year puts Adams quite comfortably ahead of the pack in the safety market. Denver’s Justin Simmons got a four-year, $61 million contract extension in March, which gave him the highest AAV at the position with $15.250 million per year. The difference of $2.25 million annually can be seen as a relative bargain compared to the Mack, Tunsil, and Ramsey deals, depending on how you rate Adams as a true free safety — or if you’re all in on his potential as a “defensive weapon.”

Watch: Seahawks S Jamal Adams celebrates new contract with a cigar

Watch Adams celebrate the news with a cigar.

Jamal Adams has a whole lot of reasons to be happy right now. The Seattle Seahawks have come to an agreement with him on a new four-year deal worth a reported $70 million that includes $38 million in guarantees.

Watch Adams celebrate the news with a cigar.

Well deserved and well earned.

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Seahawks, Jamal Adams agree to terms on 4-year, $70 million deal

The Jamal Adams contract saga is finally over.

The Jamal Adams contract saga is finally over.

According to a report by Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, the Seahawks and their star strong safety have come to an agreement on a new four-year, $70 million deal. The contract includes $38 million in guarantees.

Adams had been staging a “hold-in” at training camp – by showing up but not practicing – in the hopes of getting $40 million in guarantees, but Seattle’s front office had apparently dug in and made their final offer. With the threat of franchise tags in 2022 and 2023 hanging over him, Adams ultimately did not have enough leverage.

The new deal makes Adams the highest-paid safety in the NFL by a comfortable margin. The previous champ was Justin Simmons of the Broncos, whose deal averaged $15,250,000 a year.

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Seahawks have made ‘final offer’ to Jamal Adams in contract stalemate

Adams’ current contract has a base salary of $9.86 million for the 2021 season.

The Seattle Seahawks play their first preason game of the year on Saturday night against the Las Vegas Raiders. As real football gets closer by the hour, there are a pair of dark clouds hanging over the organization in the shape of contract disputes. Left tackle Duane Brown and strong safety Jamal Adams both want new deals and neither have been participating at training camp.

The latest on the saga comes from Adam Jude and Bob Condotta at the Seattle Times, who report the Seahawks are “not budging” on what they’re calling their final offer for Adams.

“On Friday, the Seahawks made what they labeled their final offer: $17.5 million in total annual compensation on a four-year contract, with roughly $38 million guaranteed. . . The Seahawks, a source said, are “not budging” on their offer.”

The report states that Adams’ representatives are looking for an additional $2 million in guarantees plus moving bonus money into the first three years of the deal instead of four. Negotiations have stopped since last Friday.

Adams’ current contract has a base salary of $9.86 million for the 2021 season.

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Extension trends for first-round picks working against Jamal Adams

Only three players have received contract extensions before their fourth NFL seasons. Could Jamal Adams be next? History isn’t on his side.

Jamal Adams has had enough of playing on his rookie contract.

When the Jets selected Adams with the sixth pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, he was given a four-year deal worth $22.3 million. The contract also includes a fifth-year option worth nearly $10 million that New York has already exercised.

Adams is no longer content with his current salary, though. Following a 2019 season in which he earned his first All-Pro nod, the former first-round pick wants more. In an effort to get what he wants, he is going after something only three other defensive players have earned: a contract extension after their third season in the NFL.

From 2011-17, only three out of 119 defensive players received an extension from the team that drafted them prior to their fourth season, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini. Those players are cornerback Patrick Peterson, outside linebacker Robert Quinn and defensive end J.J. Watt. Luke Keuchly came close to getting his extension after his third season, but he did not come to terms with the Panthers on a new deal until two days after the first game of his fourth season with the team.

Two of football’s best defenders, Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald and Bears outside linebacker Khalil Mack, played four years on their rookie deals before receiving extensions. Donald is a six-time Pro Bowler, five-time first-team All-Pro and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Mack is a five-time Pro Bowler, three-time first-team All-Pro and won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2016.

There is no doubt that Adams is an elite player and one of the best defensive backs in football. However, if Donald and Mack, two generational talents who play premium positions, did not get contract extensions after their third seasons, what makes Adams think Joe Douglas is going to come to terms on a deal with him? Players of Adams’ caliber don’t come around every day, but he plays a position that does not necessarily warrant the lucrative contract he is seeking.

The current state of the NFL economy complicates matters further. If no fans can attend games in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams will lose out on stadium revenue, which could have a substantial effect on the 2021 salary cap. With such financial uncertainty looming, the Jets have no reason to expedite a deal with Adams. They were not planning on rushing into negotiations before the pandemic. They’re not going to change their tune now.

Adams does not play a position that offers him much leverage in negotiations. The fact that he is under contract for at least two more years puts him in an even worse position. In other words, don’t expect Adams to become the fourth first-round defensive pick to receive an extension before his fourth season in the NFL.

Expect Jamal Adams’ stalemate with Jets to carry on for a while

Jets Wire breaks down why Jamal Adams’ contract stalemate with the Jets is destined to last for a while.

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.

Jamal Adams as much to blame as anyone for contract fiasco

Jets Wire breaks down why Jamal Adams needs to take a look in the mirror and realize his role in his contract fiasco with New York.

Typically when a team and a player cannot come to terms on a new contract, it is the team that is to blame.

Front offices are known for doing everything in their power to save money when they can. Whether it be not meeting a player’s salary demands or not hitting the spot with certain incentives, executives are usually the reason why negotiations go off the rails and a player winds up requesting a trade.

That is not the case with Jamal Adams and the Jets.

Ever since Joe Douglas did his job by picking up the phone and listening when the Dallas Cowboys called about Adams at the trade deadline in October, New York’s All-Pro safety has been kicking and screaming despite lacking any real leverage. He claimed Douglas went behind his back by “shopping” him when, in reality, all Douglas did was what he is supposed to do as an NFL general manager — listen to trade offers.

“My message was clear, that Jamal was an absolute stud and we’re not interested in moving him,” Douglas said at the time. “Teams continued to call. I was always taught where I’m from, if a team calls, you listen to what they have to say.”

Adams eventually got over what he thought was a backstabbing, but the fact remained that he wanted a contract extension and he wanted it as soon as possible — even though he had two years left on his rookie deal and the Jets had team control with the ability to franchise tag him beyond his initial contract with the team. Keep in mind, future salary cap numbers are uncertain due to the ongoing pandemic.

Once the regular season ended, Adams returned to his petulant ways, openly campaigning for a new contract on social media. After saying on Instagram the Jets were “A lot of talk no action” in negotiations last week, things ultimately hit the fan on Thursday, with Adams requesting a trade out of the Big Apple.

Could the Jets have handled their negotiations with Adams a bit better? Probably. If Douglas had no intention of extending Adams right away, he shouldn’t have suggested that he was following the NFL draft.

With that being said, there is no doubt that Adams and his camp are as much to blame for the fiasco currently engulfing One Jets Drive as anyone else.

After Adams demanded his trade, reports surfaced that there were certain teams he was willing to play for without a contract extension right away. If Adams actually wanted to stay in New York and play for the Jets as he has said he wants to do time and again, why is it that he would be content waiting for a contract extension from another team, but not the Jets?

It makes perfect sense as to why the Jets were in no rush to extend him. What is the point in breaking the bank for a player you have multiple years of team control over? Patrick Mahomes has yet to be extended and he won the Chiefs a Super Bowl in 2019. Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack — two NFL Defensive Players of the Year — also did not receive extensions after the third year of their rookie deals. None of those players took to Twitter or Instagram to throw tantrums because they weren’t being extended at that time.

Adams has staked his claim as a leader in the locker room ever since joining the Jets in 2017. What kind of a leader refuses to go to battle with his teammates until his pockets are full, but is content leaving for an entirely new organization that might not even pay him right away? One who is “all talk no action.”

It’s okay for a player to want what he’s worth, but the message gets muddied when you’re willing to make concessions for a hypothetical team you don’t even play for.

Maybe Adams doesn’t want to be in New York anymore. Maybe he wants to finally play for a winner instead of a team that falls short every year. If that’s the case, then it is what it is and there is not much the Jets can do about it. However, if this is about money and having an issue with the way New York has approached negotiations, Adams and his representation need to take a long look in the mirror and realize their role in all of this.

They’re just as much to blame as anyone for this circus.