It’s another day ending in y, which means it’s time to look back at the ill-fated Seattle Seahawks trade for Jamal Adams.
I’d like to say this is the first season since 2020 in which the Adams trade is not relevant to the team, but his $20 million dead cap hit impacts the 2024 squad.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell ranked the biggest mistake by each NFL team since 2020, and the Adams trade was (perhaps fittingly) ranked 12th. Here’s a little refresher on both the draft capital given up, as well as what those picks eventually became for the New York Jets and (through an additional trade) the Minnesota Vikings.
In the hopes of building a Super Bowl contender around Russell Wilson and revitalizing a defense that had gone stale, coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider shipped a pair of first-round picks for a young star in his prime. With Adams seemingly at odds with Jets management, the Seahawks pounced on a potential star by sending three picks to New York for Adams and a fourth-round pick.
It was tough to believe Adams could provide outsized value at safety given his skill set. In Year 1, though, he had a whopping 9.5 sacks and was named a second-team All-Pro, albeit with middling coverage numbers. He also missed four games because of a groin injury.
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The picks the Seahawks sent to New York turned into standout players. Thanks to a further trade, the Jets’ 2021 first-rounder turned into Christian Darrisaw, who became an excellent left tackle for the Vikings. (The Jets used their pick to trade up for guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, who has battled injury issues in New York.) Seattle’s 2022 selection became the 10th overall pick, which the Jets used on star wideout Garrett Wilson. Much of the pain of the Adams deal, of course, was mitigated by the success of Seattle’s trade that sent Wilson to Denver.
On the plus side, Coby Bryant was taken with the Jets’ fourth-round pick, so it wasn’t a total loss.
There’s no way around this trade going bust on multiple fronts. That Adams suffered a series of serious injuries is bad luck, but the process was always questionable and seemed to try and solve a double issue of a failing pass rush and a struggling secondary. The defense remained bad with Adams on the team, so he was not as transformational for Pete Carroll’s scheme as hoped.
Speaking of that Russell Wilson trade, it’s listed as the Denver Broncos’ worst mistake and the 2nd worst across the NFL. It doesn’t take much thinking to figure out that the Cleveland Browns’ Deshaun Watson trade + fully guaranteed contract extension is numero uno.
Of course, it shouldn’t be lost on Seahawks fans that as poorly as the Wilson trade went for the Broncos, they cut ties quickly and have recovered to the point where they’re on the cusp of a playoff berth with Bo Nix at quarterback, a defense that’s 4th in DVOA and 1st in points allowed, and an offensive line that rates number one in pass blocking. All with a ton of money tied up to Wilson dead cap and far less draft capital than Seattle managed in the Wilson trade.
