It got a little dicey at the eleventh hour, with the Seahawks drawing a line in the sand and the two sides posturing for what could have happened if a long-term deal hadn’t been done. Ultimately, Seattle and safety Jamal Adams worked things out on a four-year, $70 million extension. The full terms of the contract, including $21 million fully guaranteed at signing, were posted earlier today.
Even though Adams ultimately accepted the team’s final offer (with some “cosmetics” attached), Adams absolutely did the right thing. The smart thing. The only thing he could do.
Adams plays a fearless and physical brand of football. He has a much greater risk of injury than other players have. He needed to shift the injury risk to the Seahawks, and he did.
It’s different for a quarterback. The risk of injury is far less significant. He can play year to year and still get a gigantic contract. Adams risked, at a base salary of $9.86 million for 2021, suffering an injury that would result in the Seahawks not tagging him or signing him to a big-money, multi-year deal and no one else being interested in paying him, either.
Adams mentioned during his press conference on Tuesday that his father, George Adams, had his own NFL career cut short due to injury. Jamal is now protected financially against a similar outcome. Indeed, Jamal mentioned that his own injuries from 2020 make him “like glass last year.”
That’s probably why his mother insisted that he take the deal.
“I wasn’t not going to take the contract, so no,” Adams told reporters. “Where I’m from, we’re definitely taking that. Mom called, she called twice, and when Mom called, she told me that I needed to take the contract it was a no brainer, so mama knows best.”
Mama does know best, always. And Jamal’s mom gave him great advice, even though it sounds as if he didn’t need it. He knew that he needed the protection against injury, and he now has $38 million of it.