The Seahawks blinked first in their standoff with Jamal Adams, rewarding the former Jets first-round pick Tuesday with a market-setting four-year, $70-million extension that will make him the league’s highest-paid safety. Adams reported on time to Seahawks training camp last month (as not to incur fines of up to $50,000 a day) but hasn’t been practicing amid his contract dispute. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Adams’ windfall comes with $38 million in guarantees.
Had a deal not been reached, the 25-year-old LSU alum was prepared to challenge the Seahawks’ franchise tag designation in 2022, arguing he should be paid as a linebacker after recording a career-best 9.5 sacks last season. Fortunately, that won’t be necessary with Adams overtaking Denver’s Justin Simmons (the recent recipient of a four-year, $61-million extension) as the NFL’s highest-paid safety on a per-year basis. Landon Collins’ six-year, $84-million free-agent deal with Washington in 2019 remains the largest in total value.
Adams fared poorly in coverage last season (he graded 80th out of 83 qualified safeties in that metric) but excelled at applying pressure, earning PFF’s fourth-highest mark behind Collins, Donovan Wilson of the Cowboys and Atlanta’s Sharrod Neasman. A new deal was always the expected outcome with Seattle exhausting any leverage it may have had by trading the Jets two first-rounders and a third for Adams in 2020. Letting Adams walk after burning a trio of premium picks to get him would not have been good business.
With Adams locked up, the Seahawks will now turn their attention to disgruntled left tackle Duane Brown, who has also been a spectator this summer while waiting on a new deal.
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