Adding Jamal Adams Wouldn't be Easy for Eagles
There is a bit of an inside joke among those of us who report on the Philadelphia Eagles for a living.
And it concerns NFL rumors as a whole which always end with the same tagline: ‘...and the Eagles.’
Howie Roseman’s reputation is well-known around the NFL and he’s often very honest when discussing players who might be available. While the Eagles’ GM never addresses specifics due to tampering rules, he consistently admits it’s his philosophy to check in on everyone just in case.
In case the market completely falls out from under Jadeveon Clowney, for instance, Philadelphia will be there waiting to pounce.
If Tony Khan wakes up one day and says life’s too short to put up with Yannick Ngakoue any longer and the asking price comes down, the Eagles might start thinking about it.
Enter Jamal Adams, the New York Jets star safety who wants out of North Jersey. Adams is a true difference-maker and would immediately upgrade a position of need in which Philadelphia has a ton of question marks in the wake of Malcolm Jenkins’ exit to New Orleans.
And it wasn’t some run-of-the-mill jabroni connecting the dots between Adams and the Eagles, it was the NFL’s top news breaker, ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
According to Schefter, Philadelphia is one of seven teams Adams’ camp is targeting for a trade.
Here’s the skinny:
The wording there is key as agents are just like the rumor-mongers in that they not only understand Roseman is going to do his due diligence when it comes to a player the caliber of Adams, the GM is often also willing to admit he’s picking up the phone.
When you add in the fact that the Jets’ GM is Joe Douglas, Roseman’s former first lieutenant and good friend, obviously the phone call is being made and the topic is being discussed. So the reporting is 100 percent accurate.
The devil is in the details, however.
Are the discussions between Roseman and Douglas about their kids with a flippant ‘what’s going on with Adams’ thrown in? Or are they serious and substantive?
From a football standpoint, Adams, 24, is obviously a fit for any team and Jim Schwartz and Marquand Manuel would be doing cartwheels with an All-Pro level safety in the conversation for the best in the game rather than the untested plan of moving Jalen Mills back from cornerback and using free-agent signee Will Parks as the pun-intended safety net.
The devil in those details come with what Douglas would be expecting back (start with a first-round pick and tack on from there with a significant player), the salary-cap ramifications of adding Adams in the midst of the uncertain financial landscape due to COVID-19, and the potential of losing massive game-day revenue with fewer or even no fans.
Adams is still somewhat cost-effective on his rookie deal but the whole juxtaposition of his impasse with the Jets surrounds an extension meaning top-of-the-line money for the position.
Even if you want to stick your head in the sand with that reality, however, under his rookie deal Adams’ salary spikes to a significant $9.86 million as a former No. 6 overall pick in the final year of his contract in 2021, a season in which the Eagles are projected to be $50 million over the cap with no COVID-19 adjustments factored in.
Adding Adams would be nice but there are a number of other teams on his list in a much better financial situation to accomplish a blockbuster trade.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
