Dyer: If They Don't Want To Be The Same Old Jets, Then Don't Trade Jamal Adams
Trading Jamal Adams this offseason, simply, would be one of the craziest things that the New York Jets could do.
On Tuesday, a reputable report surfaced that the Jets could be open to trading running back Le’Veon Bell and Adams this offseason. No matter that the trade deadline is well done and past and that the regular season still has three weeks left. The Jets would be fools to now be thinking about a trade involving Adams.
This line of thinking should not be thought about or even discussed. It is completely and utterly the wrong direction.
They went down this road before, engaging in a serious albeit brief flirtation with the Dallas Cowboys just hours before the trade deadline passed. The Jets open receptiveness to hearing offers for Adams aside – and they absolutely should pursue their due diligence when it comes to interest and offers on any player including Adams – they absolutely can not dangle Adams.
If a ‘Too Good To Be True’ offer rolls in from Adams, the Jets should be open and discuss. But to go into the offseason with the mindset to deal one of the best players at his position is a step further away from this team being firmly built and established.
To want to part with Adams, who is putting together another Pro Bowl caliber season, would be just folly. If they don't want to be the Same Old Jets anymore, then stop making dumb decisions.
And a dumb decision would be trading away the franchise's best player in Adams.
Several weeks ago, head coach Adam Gase said that franchises are built on quarterbacks. He isn’t wrong. But Adams is a special player and a gamechanger.
If the Jets don’t have Adams, they likely don’t go on that recent three-game winning streak that so far has defined a very underwhelming 5-8 season to date.
During that three-game winning streak that stretched from Week 10 to Week 12, Adams was perhaps the most dominant defensive player in the league. He had 20 tackles, 5.5 sacks and a pass defended in a stretch of games that gave the Jets season some meaning.
Every team that got ready to go up against the Jets during that winning streak praised Adams during the week leading up to the game. Such was his elevated level of play that Adams was seemingly in the zone. There was nothing he couldn’t do during those three games.
Which, coincidentally, came after the trade deadline and the Jets were unable (or unwilling) to move from their safety.
The Jets boast $66 million in salary cap space heading into this upcoming offseason. Adams, set to make a little over $7 million in 2020 and in the final year of his rookie deal, doesn’t represent a game changer were the Jets able to shed his salary.
And paying him top dollar is not a foolhardy investment. Washington’s safety Landon Collins, who signed a six-year, $84 million contract last offseason, is the standard for any new deal for Adams. And Adams, frankly, with no disrespect to Collins, is the best safety in the league right now.
He’s a playmaker and while Gase values the quarterback position above all – and he’s not wrong to do so in the modern NFL – finding someone who so changes an opposing offense’s approach in the way Adams does is rare. He’s worth the investment. He’s surely good enough.
And he wants to be a Jet. What’s not to like here?
