Jamal Adams lost just as Seahawks show they would use him properly

The Seahawks came away from their Week 1 clash with the Denver Broncos with a big 17-16 victory, but they lost one of their top players in the process.

Huard: How Seahawks’ defense was ‘stout,’ stepped up in red zone

While blitzing and hitting former Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson during the second quarter to force a punt, starting strong safety Jamal Adams came up limping and quickly was moved to the blue medical tent. A few minutes later, the three-time All-Pro was seen being carted to the locker room and screaming in frustration. He was soon ruled out with a knee injury.

After the game, head coach Pete Carroll told reporters that his starting safety had a pretty severe quad injury that would likely keep him out of action for some time. On Tuesday, Carroll was on Seattle Sports 710 AM and told Brock and Salk that Adams “get some work” on his knee, referencing surgery.

Seahawks Injuries: Jamal Adams ‘needs work’; Walker update

It’s unclear what the exact injury is or whether Adams will play again this year, but no updates have sounded good for the sixth-year defender.

That’s a big blow to a Seahawks team that appeared to be using Adams more like he was utilized in 2020 when he had 9.5 sacks in just 12 games and earned second-team All-Pro honors.

On Tuesday, Bob Stelton and former NFL linebacker Dave Wyman of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob discussed the injury to Adams and why it’s so devastating for the Seahawks.

“I feel terrible for the guy … He’s got to be the unluckiest guy out there,” Stelton said. “I mean, that was a fairly innocuous play, and a great play by him, by the way. He got in the backfield to bring Russ down.”

Adams was used as a more traditional safety last season and didn’t have many big plays despite being the highest-paid player at his position at the time. When he played this week, he was being used more around the line of scrimmage and, as referenced, blitzed on the play he was injured.

“It looked like they had him up toward the line of scrimmage. He made a couple tackles. He was in position on a pass breakup,” Stelton said. “I mean, he looked more like he was (used) his first season here in the brief amount of time he was out there, and then you see him just kind of get up on one knee, getting up from the play and all of a sudden he’s limping and leaves the field.”

Wyman, who called the game as color commentator on the Seahawks Radio Network, said he feels bad for Adams, especially because he was showcasing what he can do on the football field on the play he got hurt.

“You see on that play where he almost gets the sack how dynamic he is. Nobody plays like that guy,” Wyman said. “I mean, it’s like some of the guys they talk about he’s like on a joystick or something, a video game. I think sometimes his mind makes his body do things that it can’t do.”

“I think we saw on the pass breakup and on that blitz, it looked like they were gonna use him that way,” Wyman added.

Adams being “quick and explosive” made that blitz “so great,” Wyman said, and his skillset really played well in Seattle’s new 3-4 defense.

“That’s part of the whole 3-4 thing where sometimes linebackers are (blitzing) or safeties are going,” Wyman said. ” … You don’t really know which linebacker is going to come – and a lot of times it’s Darrell Taylor, but you’ve got (Uchenna) Nwosu on the other side, sometimes it’s Cody Barton, you saw him get a sack. That part of that was what is characteristic of the 3-4 defense, that it’s just really dynamic that way. But using Jamal in that regard would have just been ideal.”

Adams being all over the place was “who you signed” and traded for, Stelton added, especially after the team’s apparent misuse of his skillset a year ago.

“But I don’t put last year on him,” he said. “And I was so excited to see him OK, they’re gonna go back, they’re gonna use him the way they did the first year where he was just flying everywhere and had an impact and  just had a nose for the ball to throw out the cliché.”

You can listen to the full conversation in the second segment of the podcast at this link or in the player below.

Seahawks’ Carroll details gameplan vs Russell Wilson in ‘meaningful’ win

Follow @TheBGustafson