Seahawks safety Jamal Adams plans to play for the first time in more than a year on Monday night. He once questioned whether he would ever play again.
Adams told reporters that he cried when he found out how serious his torn quadriceps tendon was last year, and seriously considered quitting football entirely.
“I thought about retiring,” Adams said, via ESPN. “I thought about a lot of things. Is this going to be it for me? I didn’t know. But I knew eventually, after I got that MRI, I told myself I’m going to be back. I didn’t know when or how, but I was going to figure it out.”
Adams is only 27 years old and was 26 when he suffered the injury last year, but he has had so many injuries since being traded to the Seahawks that he has missed more games than he’s played. Adams said that weighs on him mentally.
“I was having all types of thoughts running through my mind, but at the time when I did tear my knee, that was definitely something I was considering,” Adams said. “I was considering everything at the moment. I was in a dark place. Not on anything suicidal, but definitely in a lot of dark times as far as getting away from the game of football, getting away from people. At the time I wasn’t really talking to many people, wasn’t answering my phone. So you go through real life situations in this game of football.”
Adams is eager to get on the field on Monday night.
“I haven’t hit anybody in a long time,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it, man, I’ll tell you that. I won’t take a play for granted. I won’t take a moment or a second for granted.”
