Jamal Adams no longer wants to be safe from the New York Jets and the act is now at a point of no return between the two sides.
On Friday, Jets safety and the undisputed best player told the New York Daily News that he was done with the Jets and wanted to leave New York. He painted a picture of a locker room where head coach Adam Gase does not communicate effectively or with all players, and that Gase was not the “right leader” for the team. There was a long list of Adams’ complaints about his current situation.
And the fact that Adams goes public on these issues only compounds a low season in which he has made it clear that he does not want to be in New York and has given the Jets many reasons why they should be too eager to send him over for a draft pick package.
No matter how talented Adams is and how talented he is, it cannot compensate for the shots now being taken in the organization. Adams is not above the team or this reconstruction.
By making these pointed and distinct comments, Adams has shattered any hope of closing the gap between himself and the organization.
The division between the Jets and Adams simply cannot be repaired and, frankly, it should not be. The way Adams has aired his dirty clothes both through social media and in interviews makes it clear that he is not a foundational element to what the Jets are trying to do. He wants to leave the city and that is his right and prerogative. But at the end of the day, the Jets simply can’t reward their three years on the field as the game’s best safety as they continue to ignore these antics.
Enough has to be enough if the Jets want to advance.
All of this originates originally several weeks ago, when a report on Adams who wanted an exchange was followed days later by Adams posting on social media that he really wants to be sent from New York. The lack of a new contract, which Adams said was supposed to be offered to him this offseason, is at the heart of his discontent.
Adams wants to be paid as the maximum security of the game. You deserve that contract. It can be argued that he is one of the best defensive players in the NFL, except in any position. But when he enters the fourth year of his rookie contract, the Jets don’t have to offer him a new deal right now. They can sit and wait.
Truth be told, it’s best for the Jets to play this. Next year’s salary cap could drop in light of the coronavirus pandemic, and high-level investment of money in a shrinking cap security could halt its rebuilding. There is also the fact that the position of safety in itself is not as reversed by most NFL teams, which means that a rebuilding team is taking valuable capital in a position not as highly valued as, for example, quarterback, offensive tackle, defensive end or cornerback.
The message sent by the Jets if they now hand out record money for a new contract is that Adams has the right to act the way he wants and, since he is the best player on the team, he will be allowed. This would go beyond the deferential treatment of star players seen in all sports. It would send a message to the locker room that Adams may be more than discontent, but it can be divisive. In this case, it will not only be tolerated, but will actually be rewarded.
If it had worked, Adams could have been a legend. In three years with the team, he has already made two Pro Bowl appearances. Had he held out in New York, Adams could have been among the best players in Jets history alongside Joe Namath and Curtis Martin. There would be a place in the ‘Ring of Honor’ for him.
Perhaps the gap could have been cured before these latest comments, and a new contract could have been reached that would have made Adams the highest-paid security in the league, as well as the face of the franchise for the next five years. It could have been what GM Joe Douglas had said in late February was his hope for Adams: to be a Jets player for life.
Instead, Adams has now created a division, an abyss for which there is no bridge. The relationship is officially rotten. Attacking the core of this team and rebuilding it simply cannot be tolerated by head coach Adam Gase and Douglas.
There can be no going back. What is said cannot be said.
Jamal Adams and his time in New York have to be done.
