The situation between Jamal Adams and the New York Jets does not appear to be nearing a resolution.
Adams has made it known for months that he wants to be traded, as it no longer seems like the Jets are willing to give him a long-term contract extension prior to the start of the 2020 season. In an interview with Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News this week, Adams revealed that Jets general manager Joe Douglas told the All-Pro safety he is open to trading him before Week 1. Adams also unloaded on Douglas and Jets head coach Adam Gase.
Let’s start with Adams’ criticisms of Gase, whom Adams said is not the right leader to bring the Jets to the “Promised Land.”
“At the end of the day, he doesn’t address the team. If there’s a problem in the locker room, he lets another coach address the team,” Adams claimed. “If we’re playing sh—y and we’re losing, he doesn’t address the entire team as a group at halftime. He’ll walk out of the locker room and let another coach handle it.”
After initially claiming he has a good relationship with Adams, Gase said more recently that any issues between the Pro Bowler and the team will remain in-house. Clearly, Adams’ issues in New York are about more than just his contract.
His contract is still the biggest issue, however. Adams says Douglas went back on his word multiple times since the end of the 2019 season, which is a claim Mehta was able to confirm through sources. According to Mehta, Douglas told Adams’ camp in January that an initial contract offer was coming. It never did, but Douglas then told Adams at the Combine in March that the goal was to surround Adams with better players via free agency. Adams says he would have been fine with that, but the Jets then failed to make any big signings. After the NFL Draft and free agency, Adams thought he would finally get a contract offer. Once again, he didn’t.
Fast-forward to May, which is when Douglas reportedly began telling Adams’ camp that the team wanted to monitor the defensive back closely to see how committed he was to the franchise.
“It was very insulting,” Adams said. “You know I bust my a— for that organization every day. I work my ass off. For them to say that to me, I was like, ‘Okay, Whoa! That was little bit too far.’
“Why would Joe come out and say, ‘We want to make Jamal a Jet for life?’ Why would you say that and then not even give me an offer?… Don’t B.S. me. I’m a straightforward guy. You don’t have to B.S. me, because I’m going to keep it honest.”
It’s worth noting that Adams said he will not hold out, but that could change. It seems highly unlikely that the Jets are going to sign him to an extension at this point. Adams has now publicly ripped the organization on multiple occasions, including his tweet this week about owner Woody Johnson. If the relationship is tarnished beyond repair, a trade might be the best option for the Jets.
