Jamal Adams is everything in a football player a team should want. He’s a great young player with potential to only get better.
If you’re rebuilding, ready for the playoffs, or one player away from a run at the Super Bowl – Adams deserves to be one the game’s highest-paid safeties.
Adams is a team leader, he plays the game all-out with passion. His numbers, three years in as a pro, backs up the self-confidence he brings to the field every week.
He’s also still on his rookie deal.
With one year guaranteed remaining on a rookie deal, along with a fifth-year team option, Adams is looking for the love.
And rightfully so.
Are the Jets ready to show their team captain the love?
On a recent conference call with the media, general manager Joe Douglas said his plan is to connect with Adams after the draft. The plan for now, at least for Douglas, is to “keep Jamal here for a long time”.
The Jets hold the No. 11 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. They need help at wide receiver and on the offensive line. For Douglas, at the head of his first draft as Jets’ GM, having additional draft picks to help expedite a rebuild wouldn’t hurt.
Teams around the league know this and are paying close attention to how the Jets approach the future with their best player.
During the 2019 season, Adams felt hurt from the news Douglas listened to trade offers for him. The Cowboys were reportedly the closest to closing out a deal for Adams, Texas is his home state.
Both sides apparently were able to resolve their issues, but that was then. Adams is already set to skip the team’s virtual offseason program, according to multiple reports.
The league are not the only ones paying attention to how this pans out, so are the fans. Adams is not only one of the best players in the NFL at his position, he’s arguably now one of the most popular.
The heavy sentiment around the Jets’ fanbase is they’re in favor of Adams getting his money. It would be hard to argue against it.
This is a team, however, that last made the playoffs in 2010. They’re still rebuilding a franchise with a general manager in his first full year in charge.
The goal is to maximize the rebuilding plan. This means maintaining flexibility in the payroll while maximizing your draft picks – your assets – to their full potential.
Adams was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2017 draft. Today, he’s the one player on the team that can bring back the most value in a trade.
Ideally, you don’t want to trade a Jamal Adams. If the Jets can avoid it and agree on a long-term deal with him, that’s great for everyone involved.
But if there’s a deal to be made, Douglas is going to listen. He was right to listen then, and he’d be right to listen now.
