Jets safety Jamal Adams has been in the news a great deal this offseason as he pushes for a new contract, and he made another splash yesterday when he requested a trade. As Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv writes, the Jets’ stance on the issue has not changed, and the team has no intention of trading him or allowing him to seek a trade on his own. New York still wants to keep him long-term and pay him as a top-of-the-market safety, but the team is hoping for a little patience from him in light of the uncertainty created by the pandemic.
After all, Adams remains under club control for two more seasons and can be hit with the franchise tag after that, and teams are generally loathe to extend a player with that much time remaining on his existing deal. While Adams continues — with reason — to point to the Panthers’ recent extension for Christian McCaffrey as justification for his demands, the C-MAC deal is an exception to the rule. After all, players like Jalen Ramsey, Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, and Cameron Heyward are still waiting for their new deals, and it’s clear that potential salary cap cuts and other fiscal concerns are the primary reason for those delays. And as Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News writes, GM Joe Douglas is under cash-flow restrictions imposed by ownership, which helps explain why the team is reluctant to do an Adams deal now (and perhaps why Douglas stayed out of the deep end of the FA pool, though his restraint in that regard has generally been lauded given the team’s recent history with splashy signings).
Adding to the Jets’ frustrations with Adams is the fact that, if he is traded to certain teams, he would not demand a contract extension. And further compounding the problem is that Adams may not be content to be the league’s highest-paid safety, which would give him an AAV of roughly $15MM. Instead, a source who has looked into acquiring Adams tells Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com that Adams is actually seeking a contract that would put him among the highest-compensated defensive players at any position, which would mean an AAV in excess of $20MM (Twitter link). Given his youth and skill level, it’s not surprising to see Adams shoot for that goal, but it would be surprising to see him achieve it.
As for a couple of the teams on Adams’ list of preferred destinations? Field Yates of ESPN.com believes the Cowboys remain the best fit (Twitter link), but regardless of fit, the draft capital it would take to land the First Team All-Pro — not to mention the eventual extension — is a huge obstacle to clear. Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com does not believe the 49ers will swing a deal given the club’s preference to keep as many draft picks as possible going forward, a desire underscored by the number of players on the current roster that are under or will soon be under premium contracts (Twitter links).
Similarly, although Zach Berman of The Athletic thinks the general concern over the Eagles‘ 2021 cap situation is overblown, he does not see the team parting with a first-round pick and ponying up a big-money deal at some point in the next year for a DB. If Philadelphia were to make that type of move, Berman believes it would be for a pass rusher like Jacksonville’s Yannick Ngakoue.
