Huard: Time for Seahawks to be done with Jamal Adams

The trade for Jamal Adams, one of the biggest in Seattle Seahawks history, has not worked out well for the organization.

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Ahead of 2020, the Seahawks traded two first-round picks, a third-round pick and a starting safety to the New York Jets for the hard-hitting safety and a fourth-round pick.

Adams, a multi-time All-Pro, was a star in New York, but he and the Jets were heading towards a divorce because they couldn’t come to terms on a contract extension. Seattle swooped in with a major offer of draft capital, and Adams joined the Seahawks.

The new marriage started well as Adams, even while missing four games, set an NFL record for sacks by a defensive back with 9.5 in 2020. He was a second-team All-Pro selection and wound up getting a four-year deal from Seattle worth over $70 million, making him the NFL’s highest-paid safety. But since then, Adams has struggled to replicate that same type of production, missing 29 of a possible 51 games over the last three years. He has no sacks and just two takeaways during that timeframe.

Adams still has two years left on his deal, but with a new head coach for Seattle in Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks could look to cut Adams. That would save them roughly $16.5 million against the 2024 salary cap, with $10.4 million in dead cap each of the next two seasons (per Spotrac) should he be released with a post-June 1 designation.

Should Seattle Seahawks move on from Jamal Adams?

During Wednesday’s Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk, which is where Mike Salk poses three football questions to former NFL quarterback Brock Huard (some of which Huard gives to Salk before the show), Salk asked Huard if he wanted him to read the first question word for word.

“‘Why am I done with Jamal’ – you typed – ‘maybe my least favorite Seahawk ever?'” Salk relayed.

Replied Huard: “Why am I done with him? Just done with him, man? It’s just the drama.”

At the NFL combine on Tuesday, Seahawks general manager John Schneider spoke to reporters. Asked about Adams, Schneider said (per Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune), “Is he in the plans? Yeah, I mean, we’ll find out. We’ll keep working through things …We’re still trying to figure all that out.”

Shortly after that, Jamal Adams posted on social media, “Looking forward to the opportunity.”

Looking forward to the opportunity.

— Jamal Adams (@Prez) February 27, 2024

Huard’s take on that?

“Oh yeah, because you’ve not gotten an opportunity here? You didn’t get paid here? You haven’t been handed everything here? You haven’t been covered over and over again here?” Huard said. “And he truly, truly, truly lost me with the attack that he did off the field this year.”

The “attack” Huard referred to came after a Thursday Night Football loss for the Seahawks to the Dallas Cowboys in which Adams got beat in coverage for a touchdown. Connor Hughes, who covers the Jets for The Athletic, posted “Yikes” on a social media clip of the play.

Adams then posted a picture of Hughes and his wife with the caption, “Yikes,” and when asked about the altercation by Seattle reporters, Adams said, “When others go low, I go lower.”

That seems to be the last straw for Huard when it comes to Adams’ Seahawks tenure.

“All the defense that people had (of him),” Huard said. “…  Jamal, as far as my least favorite Seahawk and just like the drama, all the noise, all the stuff and never accepting responsibility for the failures – I just, I’m done. So I hope that (him being released) is a headline that we hear from the Seahawks (soon). If you think it is such a given like we all agree with (Russell Wilson getting cut in Denver); do you likewise agree that it’s time (to move on from Adams)?”

Salk chimed in, saying, “It’s 100% time. I can’t imagine him being back on the team.”

Added Huard: “Frankly, it was time last year. And knowing what they know now, in retrospect, they should have done that last year. The body is done, everything is done.”

Listen to the full second hour of Wednesday’s Brock and Salk at this link or in the player near the top of this story. 

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