Contract-year safety Jamal Adams did not report for the start of Tuesday’s mandatory minicamp in Seattle, suggesting the disgruntled 25-year-old is gearing up for another holdout.
Players who skip mandatory minicamp are usually subject to a $93,000 fine, though that doesn’t apply to Adams, who is reportedly dealing with a family/personal matter. Adams has not been present for any of the team’s offseason workouts and, even before this off-field issue arose, was not expected to attend this week’s minicamp.
You may remember Adams, a player as high-maintenance as he is talented, pulled a similar stunt in New York last summer, requesting a trade, which the Jets happily obliged after Seattle offered them a bounty of picks including two first-rounders. Adams has expressed his desire to stay in Seattle, but only if his contract demands are met. The fifth-year LSU product was spectacular in his Seahawks debut last season, registering 83 tackles, one forced fumble and 9.5 sacks, the latter an NFL record among defensive backs.
Clearly, Adams feels he’s worth more than his $9.86-million cap hit in 2021, ninth-highest at his position. Justin Simmons’ $15.25-million AAV (average annual value) stands as the current high-water mark for NFL safeties, a fact Adams, a three-time Pro Bowler in the prime of his career, is no doubt aware of. The 2017 first-rounder is younger and arguably a better player than Simmons, though the Seahawks are already paying an arm and a leg for Russell Wilson ($32-million cap number) and would risk alienating Bobby Wagner, a Seattle lifer and one of the best off-ball linebackers in recent memory, by making Adams their highest-paid defender.
Making a mess of things could cost Adams in the short term (he’d incur a fine of $50,000 for each unexcused absence at training camp this summer), though after Seattle paid the Jets a king’s ransom in draft picks for him last summer, the threat of leaving as a free agent next year is all the leverage he needs.
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