Absent a first-round draft pick, some thoughts about Jamal Adams

The Seattle Seahawks stuck with their gut over the weekend and left with three players from this year’s draft. Along the way, GM John Schneider joked about how they thought of Jamal Adams and other players that were earned by trading away this year’s draft picks.

Some people weren’t having it, however. There were those who took the opportunity to put the Seahawks on blast for last years trade.

I think this take is useless and lazy for several reasons.

Reason 1

No safeties were drafted in round one of last year either, so do proper research and write a more compelling tweet.

Reason 2

Jamal Adams was a number six overall pick, is in his prime, and has made it to three Pro Bowls in four years, so it is a bizarre thing to criticize a franchise’s process for trading typical value for a player of that caliber, regardless of position. Especially as this is simply a comparison by recency-of-draft bias, which just makes no sense.

Reason 3

Jamal Adams had 9.5 sacks last season, behind only LB Haason Reddick and number one overall pick Myles Garrett from among his 2017 draft class. Perhaps a safety doesn’t carry the same value on paper, but sacks do. General Managers have done some very silly things in the name of pressuring opposing quarterbacks.

Seattle had both a pass rush issue and a semi-wide open gap at safety* at the time of the trade. The process is still good.

*Yes, this did bump Marquise Blair down the depth chart, but an All-Pro gets the nod over some second-year excitement every time, objectively

Reason 4

It almost worked.

The Seahawks ended the 2020 season with one of the best defenses in football. They were 12-4 and NFC West champions. The pieces came together, and Jamal Adams coupled with either Bobby Wagner or Carlos Dunlap to cause absolute havoc in the first and second levels.

Seattle was some typical Los Angeles Rams woes and horrific offensive synergy away from advancing in the playoffs. Meanwhile, that defense held the Rams largely to field goals, despite bad field position and a 33-26 unfavorable time of possession.

I don’t know. That game was such a bad showing on so many levels, but Adams was duct taped together and played his heart out. He seems to be everything you’d want in a defensive star. Tons of energy, mad playmaking ability, team mentality. The knocks against him are back simply because it’s draft season and the Hawks didn’t have a first, but that’s a bit short-sighted.

What does Jamal Adams need to do to justify his price tag? In my opinion, be on the field the entire season. Would rather have him out there than three of the last four first-rounder picks from this team combined.