Huard: Seahawks’ contract situations with Adams, Brown a growing concern
Aug 10, 2021, 12:34 PM | Updated: 2:36 pm
Seahawks safety Jamal Adams has yet to practice as he seeks a new contract. (AP)
(AP)
We’re inching closer and closer to the start of the 2021 NFL season and for the Seahawks, but the big story at training camp hasn’t been how the team is performing on the field. Rather it’s two players who aren’t practicing.
Most Important Seahawks: Two top playmakers for the offense
Those two players are All-Pro safety Jamal Adams and Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown. Both players have reported to training camp but neither are practicing as they both are seeking new contracts.
Adams, 25, was acquired by Seattle last offseason in a blockbuster trade with the New York Jets that saw the Seahawks send two first-round picks, a third-round pick and safety Bradley McDougald to New York for Adams and a fourth-round selection. He’s entering the last year of his contract, and Peter King of Football Morning in America reported recently that the Seahawks “have stretched themselves quite a bit” in contract talks with Adams, who is “still not happy with the offer” from Seattle.
Brown, 35, is also on the last year of his deal. The veteran left tackle has been in Seattle since 2017 when the Seahawks acquired him in a midseason trade with the Houston Texans. Quarterback Russell Wilson told reporters he hopes a deal can get done soon since he and the team need Brown on the field. Head coach Pete Carroll told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that Brown is “making a statement” by holding out of practice, but the team is “working at it” in terms of a new contract prior to Seattle’s Week 1 matchup in Indianapolis.
It’s unclear what the panic level inside Seahawks headquarters is when it comes to the status of Brown and Adams going forward, but former NFL quarterback and current FOX Sports analyst Brock Huard isn’t afraid to say how concerned he is at this point in time.
“I think both of them are an 8 (out of 10),” Huard told 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant on Tuesday. ” … Because both of these guys have played the Kam Chancellor card. Both of them have done that in their career.”
The “Kam Chancellor card” refers to when the former star Seahawks safety held out of training camp as well as Seattle’s first two regular games in 2015 as he was looking for a new contract.
Part of the reason that Adams and Brown are with the Seahawks and not the Jets and Texans, respectively, is because they made it clear to their former franchises that they wanted to get paid, otherwise they wanted to be traded. In both cases they were eventually traded to Seattle.
“For Jamal, he was incredibly public and very, very loud, and (he made clear) his disgust for that organization and forced his way out,” Huard said. “And for Duane, if I remember right, the Seahawks traded for him while he was holding out the last time around in Houston. He wanted a new deal and he wasn’t going to play, so he was sitting out.” (Note: Brown held out the first six games of 2017 while with the Texans, and after playing one game for Houston was traded to Seattle in Week 9.)
Huard noted that Chancellor’s holdout “felt so out of character” at the time, similar to Wilson’s comments this offseason regarding his pass protection that caused a lot of media speculation. But with Brown and Adams, voicing displeasure and even missing time isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“With these two guys, they’re going to be, I think, pretty hardheaded that they want their money and they’re not going to put on the uniform and go play until they get the deal they want,” Huard said.
And the players likely won’t be the only stubborn ones either, Huard said.
“And equally, (Seahawks salary cap specialist) Matt Thomas and (general manager) John Schneider are going to say, ‘This is the way we do our deals, this is what we’ve got,'” Huard said. “This deal, especially for Jamal, (the offer) isn’t going to change. And for Duane, unfortunately he’s got to wait on Jamal.”
O’Neil: Hawks are rarely wrong when they decide not to extend players
Brown likely having to wait on Adams before getting a new contract could cause some problems as well, Huard said.
“To me, that’s where I’m kind of curious where the simmering tensions go,” he said.
So if Huard sees the situation as an 8/10, does that mean he’s worried that Adams and/or Brown will sit out of regular season games?
“I don’t know if they’ll go that route to miss game checks like Kam Chancellor did, but it certainly is an (8/10), certainly is a B-plus working its way towards that,” Huard said. “… A 10 I would feel that way (that they’d miss games). But as far as things starting to bubble and sizzle a little bit … it’s sizzling a little bit. The first preseason game is this weekend and you don’t have many of these snaps of full speed reps.”
Listen to the full second hour of Tuesday’s Danny and Gallant at this link or in the player below.
Follow Brandon Gustafson on Twitter.
More on Seahawks training camp
• Clayton: Who and what stood out in Seahawks’ scrimmage
• Will Seahawks be looking for Carson to be a workhorse RB?
• Wyman: 5 Seahawks we aren’t talking about enough
• Rookie CB Tre Brown: I’ll ‘definitely make a name for myself’
