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He’s been very good, but he probably needs some help to be great . . .
I’m talking about Jamal Adams.
After learning on the job as a rookie in 2017, he took a big step forward in 2018, putting together a very good season and making the Pro Bowl.
He finished with 115 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 112 defensed passes and 1 interception.
While he was very good, he has the potential to be great, and to reach that potential, he needs more help.
When you think about great safeties in recent years, like Earl Thomas and Eric Berry, they had good defenses around them. Thomas shined with the “Legion of Boom” in Seattle, and Berry, in his heyday in Kansas City, had a great edge rush creating havoc on a weekly basis with Justin Houston, Tamba Hali and Dee Ford.
Adams certainly hasn’t benefited for getting anywhere near the pass rush that Thomas and Berry did. A great pass rush can lead to bad decisions by an opposing QB and more opportunities for safeties to create turnovers.
I think Adams did the best he could with some very suspect play around him on many occasions last year.
For instance, against Green Bay, there were two long plays down the sideline featuring blown coverages. The Jets couldn’t deal with the combo routes that were presented to them. Adams, who is extremely bright and instinctive, was trying to get the other players to pick up certain guys and they didn’t listen. The first was a 49-yard TD to Jake Kumerow. The other was a 34-yard gain to Equanimeous St. Brown St. Brown. Both players were essentially uncovered due to assignment confusion. The Jets looked like the Keystone Cops on these two plays.
Having Gregg Williams as his defensive coordinator should help. Not only is Williams one of the best in the business, but if guys mess up like they did on these two plays, they will likely find their butts on the bench, or at least get a tongue-lashing. The old staff was very forgiving, and rarely punished players for blown assignments.
Also, Williams should help create more pressure on opposing quarterbacks, with his exotic blitzes, and also with the addition of two of the drafts best pass rushers – Quinnen Williams and Jachai Polite.
So my point is simple – Adams is a very good player, but he needs help to become great.
Maybe this is the year he finally gets that help.
And with all that Williams likes to blitz, expect his sack and QB pressures to go up even more. He’s a very good blitzers.
Example – In the Houston game, on third down early in the fourth quarter – Adams blitzed and sacks Deshaun Watson for a loss of 14.
Adams is going to love playing in this defense because it will be more sound and players will be held more accountable. He’s not stupid. He knows the guys who were consistently blowing assignments around him the last two years. He’s just not going to say anything publicly. But he knows it was a huge problem.
It’s almost like it’s hard to be considered a great lead singer in a band with lousy musicians around you.
Adams needs a better band surrounding him in 2019 in order for him to take that next step.
June 27, 2019
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