Report: Jamal Adams not looking for extension from Seahawks this season

Over the weekend the Seattle Seahawks made a splash by sending two first round picks, a third round pick and Bradley McDougald to the New York Jets in exchange for Jamal Adams and a fourth round selection. The trade lit up the NFL news airwaves for the duration of the weekend, and has set expectations sky high for Seahawks fans who won’t even get to see their team on the field for more than six weeks. In the wake of the trade, fans and observers alike have set to wondering what a contract extension for Adams could look like, as he has previously stated that he wants to be the highest paid safety in football.

With two years left on his rookie contract, including the fourth and final year of the original deal plus the fifth year option, extending Adams at this point would have broken precedent for the Hawks who have publicly stated on multiple occasions that they only do extensions when a player has a single year left on their contract. Whether this could be a point of contention for Adams or not had been up in the air, though that appears to have been settled prior to the trade per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.

In short, no market resetting extension is imminent for Adams, and he and the team can work on an extension in the offseason once both sides see how well he fits into Pete Carroll’s system. This allows Adams to put together another season of film before working out a deal and with a better understanding on both sides of the potential economic impact of the coronavirus on league operations and the team’s salary cap going forward. For the team, they are able to maintain precedent on reworking contracts, and in a year should have the ability to work out an extension that lowers the 2021 cap hit for Adams while maintaining a similar cash flow to the player.

Basically, this is a win-win for the team and player, barring a situation where Adams suffers a significant injury during the 2020 season. That happening would likely prevent the team from extending him prior to 2021, while Adams would then be set to potentially become a free agent after his age 26 season after having re-established himself. In any case, no need to worry about the cap implications of an Adams extension at the moment, as it something that can be discussed after the season, assuming the season actually happens.