In Jamal Adams vs. Adam Gase, time will tell

Broadway Joe

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Mar 19, 2019
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With Jets safety Jamal Adams wanting out of New York, the ability of the Jets to get from Seattle an offer they couldn’t refuse for Adams is, frankly, amazing. Even with the Seahawks perennially picking in the lower portion of round one, the Jets have to be thrilled that they pocketed two ones, a 2021 third-rounder, and Bradley McDougald for Adams and a 2022 fourth-rounder.

Moving forward, the question becomes whether Adams’ complaints about coach Adam Gase had merit, or whether Adams was simply burning every bridge to an effort to get to a better team. On Tuesday, quarterback Sam Darnold rebutted Adams’ concerns about Gase, and Gase took the high road in answering the now-former Jet.

The proof ultimately will come from the Jets’ performance in 2020 — and from the manner in which Adams handles any adversity he encounters in Seattle. Indeed, Adams’ comments about Gase weren’t the first time the player popped off. Or the second.

Said Adams of his experiences with the Jets in 2017, when Todd Bowles was still the head coach: “[E]verybody was used to losing. You can always tell that vibe. I came in, and it was like everybody wanted to do the bare minimum. They didn’t want to go above and beyond. They didn’t want to take that extra step.” (Bowles later said that Adams “didn’t mean a lot of things that came out wrong.”)

In September 2018, when the Jets lost to the Browns on a Thursday night that featured the debut of Baker Mayfield after Tyrod Taylor suffering an injury, Adams called out the coaching staff for not having a proper strategy for Mayfield: “We had to be open to knowing that Baker could come in, but we were prepared for Tyrod. When Baker came in, obviously we didn’t have a game plan for him.” (Bowles later said that Adams “misspoke” and “didn’t mean it.”)

After a November 2018 loss to Gase and the Dolphins, Adams sounded off: “I’m sick of losing. Honestly, I’m sick of losing. Enough is enough. I’m fed up with losing, man. It’s the same, same, same stuff. It’s frustrating. I’m not going to hold my tongue for anything anymore.”

Later that same month, Adams echoed his comments about the 2017 season: “I could sit here and sugarcoat everything, but things haven’t changed. Obviously we’re still losing. I’m not saying we have guys like that in locker room, but at same time it’s not changing. It hasn’t changed. We’ve been losing. At the end of the day we’re going to get it fixed. Soon sun will shine.”

After the season ended, the Jets fired Bowles. Adams said that Bowles wasn’t to blame for the losing, and that the team simply needed better players. “You have to get big-time players,” Adams said. “It’s simple. You look at the Saints. You look at the Rams. You look at the Chicago Bears. You look at all those teams. You have to go get players.”

Although Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has handled plenty of big personalities over the years, Adams’ personality seems as big as they come, with real questions as to whether any coach can keep him from speaking his mind, no matter what impact it may have on the locker room at large. With Seattle surely having sky-high expectations (especially with Adams now on the team), it will be interesting to see what Adams has to say if the team fails to meet the standard that’s been set.

Clearly, the Seahawks currently are a much better team than the Jets. But maybe the turmoil created by Adams will cause the Jets to pull together and get the most out of their abilities. For them, the bar is clearly much lower than it is in Seattle.

In most seasons, there would be no reason to constantly compare two franchise on opposite ends of the country. This year, given the ruckus that Adams created on the way out the door, it almost will make as much sense to compare the Jets and the Seahawks as it will to compare the Patriots and the Bucs.
 
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