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What is the reality here?
Talking about Jamal Adams, the player.
As you know, Adams is in a contract dispute with the team right now. He wants a new deal, and since the team hasn’t given him one, he’s skipping the team’s virtual off-season program.
Ideally, the Jets would like to wait until after his fourth season to give him a new contract. That happened with superstars like Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack. Jalen Ramsey just finished his fourth season, and is still waiting for his second deal. It’s fairly uncommon for teams to give first-round picks new contracts after just three years.
But putting the timing of the deal aside, what kind of player is Adams, and what kind of deal would he merit?
“He is great in coverage,” former NFL receiver Michael Irvin texted R.J. Choppy of 105.3 FM in Dallas.
The reason these two gentlemen were texting each other was because of rumors that the Dallas Cowboys have interest in trading for Adams.
“Jets want a 1st and 3rd,” Adam texted Choppy.
Getting back to Irvin saying, “He’s great in coverage.”
Some might consider this hyperbolic. Some might use the word “solid” to describe Adams in coverage. While he’s not just a “box safety,” he does some of his best work near the line. He’s a terrific in run support and as a blitzer, finishing with 6.5 sacks last year.
Former NFL GM Michael Lombardi said on his podcast, on more than one occasion, that Gregg Williams knew how to use Adams last year.
“I think really Gregg Williams deserves a ton of credit for how he utilized [Adams] – keeping him close to the line of scrimmage, attacking him,” Lombardi said.
Does this sound like he’s “great” in coverage if the DC is using him a lot around the line.
Lombardi also said Adams is playing “a dying position.”
That might be a little strong because the player contributes a lot to a football team, but Lombardi believes that if you are going to pay safeties, they have to be elite in coverage.
“Unless [you] play man-to-man and lock up on any slot receiver, you can’t impact the game if you don’t,” Lombardi said about the NFL safety position.
Adams is okay in coverage, but probably not a guy who can “lock up any slot receiver.” He has one career interception, and that came last year against New England QB Jared Stidham, who replaced Tom Brady in a blowout, and Adams returned it for a TD. Stidham was back on the bench after this play, and Brady re-entered the game.
Some might argue that a safety who had one interception in his first three years isn’t “great in coverage.” Chicago’s Eddie Jackson, who was in the same draft class (2017) as Adams, has 10 career interceptions.
Look, this post isn’t meant to demean Adams, who is a terrific player, but just deal with the reality of the situation. I know reality is less and less in vogue these days.
But the bottom line is Adams is an excellent box safety, who is okay in coverage.
How much are you willing to pay for an excellent box safety who is okay in coverage?
Only Joe Douglas can answer that?
There is a smart contract number for this skill set, but perhaps it’s not a number that would make him the highest paid player on the team, as some have suggested.
May 27, 2020
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