Jamal Adams Finally Arrives as Seahawks' Agent of Chaos
"Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos...”
This is a quote from Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight, but it really could be something Seahawks safety Jamal Adams said after yet another strong performance on Monday night. On 710 ESPN Seattle on Monday morning, Pete Carroll noted that it was Adams' best game with his new team.
While Seattle's offense was sputtering for parts of the evening in Philadelphia, the defense put together one of their best performances of the whole season and the aggressive safety was at the center of this success.
Over the last few months, Adams battled injuries and ultimately missed four games. But coming off a mini bye week of sorts, he certainly looks healthy now and that should scare the heck out of the rest of the NFC.
When the Seahawks traded two first round picks and a third rounder for Adams' services in July, the coaches and fans envisioned him contributing like he did Monday night. He was seemingly everywhere, whether he was slipping into he backfield, dropping back in coverage, sacking the quarterback, covering downfield. Like the Clown Prince of Crime in the underbelly of Gotham City, he wreaked havoc as an escaped villain from Arkham Asylum.
The 25-year old Adams notched a sack on Carson Wentz that forced the Eagles to kick a field goal and kept Seattle's lead safe early in the second half. It also brought his sack total to 6.5 on the season, tying his career high from last season. Keep in mind that he has missed four games and produced such numbers in only seven starts. The Seahawks sacks leader in 2019 was Rasheem Green with a meager 4.0. Adams currently has more sacks in 2020 than the likes of Jadeveon Clowney, Yannick Ngakoue, DeMarcus Lawrence, Chase Young, J.J. Watt, and many other touted pass rushers across the league landscape.
May I repeat, Adams is a safety.
He certainly puts a smile on the faces of Seahawks coaches and fans with his reckless abandon on the field and vocal presence off of it. Adams might be the most interesting Seahawk of 2020, always with a good quote or sound byte after a big play or game.
Aside from sacks, Adams has 17 pressures this year, which leads any other defensive back by a huge margin, with the next closest being Falcons safety Foyesade Oluokun with eight. Between his sacks, pressures, quarterback hits (12), tackles at the line of scrimmage on ball carriers (7 tackles for loss), he is an absolute headache in the box.
Adams also is yet to be credited with a touchdown pass allowed, despite the poor pass defense all around in Seattle. His coverage skills may be better than his 118.7 passer rating allowed against would suggest. He's just an elite athlete.
It's utter chaos for the opposing offense trying to keep track and slow down the LSU product. Other players around the league are taking notice and embracing the chaos he brings.
With Adams healthy and the addition of Carlos Dunlap to the fold, the Seahawks' pass rush has been on another level in the past month. The squad has 22 sacks in their last five games, which is only six less than the total for the entire season last year. Seattle is now eighth in the NFL with 31 sacks as a team.
Adams is now public enemy number one for opposing offensive lines when trying to prepare for Seattle. To add a little effect to his presence, the charismatic star should creep up to the line and look in the eyes of a sweating offensive lineman, smile, and say "Why so serious?" before blowing past them for another sack.
