Seahawks S Jamal Adams: Pete Carroll Provides Rehab Update
While Jamal Adams has taken a positive step forward in his rehabilitation from a severe knee injury, the star safety has a difficult road remaining in front of him to get back on the football field for the Seattle Seahawks.
Speaking with reporters in his final press conference of the 2022 season, coach Pete Carroll indicated Adams has started running on the treadmill, a major stepping stone in his comeback from a torn quad tendon. However, given the nature of the injury, he likely won't be ready to participate in Seattle's offseason program and/or the start of training camp and a timeline for his potential return isn't yet known.
"He's finally starting to move, he's up on his feet and he's going, he's on the treadmills and those things getting started," Carroll stated. "It's still a long recovery for him and we'll go into the summer with him still getting back, so we just have to wait and see how it goes. That's not one where he's going to bounce back and be ready next month or something like that. It's going to take him a while."
Entering the 2022 season, the Seahawks had lofty expectations for Adams playing in a hybrid 3-4 defense coordinated by Clint Hurtt, assembling a plan they believed would best maximize his unique skill set. During training camp, the hard hitting strong safety spent a fair amount of time playing as a linebacker in nickel and dime personnel with Quandre Diggs and either Ryan Neal or Josh Jones on the field alongside him.
But as has been the case for much of Adams' three-year tenure in Seattle, the team didn't have a chance to see those three safety looks in game action. While trying to bring down former teammate Russell Wilson for a sack in the first half of the season opener against Denver, his leg buckled and he hobbled off the field before being carted to the locker room.
One day after the game, while he didn't know the full extent of the injury at that point, Carroll broke the news on his weekly radio show on Seattle Sports 710 that Adams would need surgery for a "serious" knee injury. He landed on injured reserve later in the week, ending his season with three tackles and a quarterback hit on 15 snaps.
After not having Adams for the final five games of the previous season, when asked how much his latest injury impacted Seattle's defensive plans, Carroll admitted they had to make significant schematic alterations in his absence.
"The last two years, it really did affect us," Carroll answered. "We had a real plan how we wanted to utilize him. He's a terrific ball player and he would be a big factor and the design of the scheme was all set up with that in mind. But I'm not blaming anything on that, we'll take advantage of it when we have him again and he'll make the most of it."
Without Adams, the Seahawks initially plugged Jones into the starting lineup as a replacement, confident he could pick up the slack after excelling through training camp. But the veteran struggled with missed tackles and coverage mishaps, eventually losing his job to Neal in Week 5.
Luckily for Seattle, the versatile, competitive Neal didn't just fill in admirably for Adams. Capitalizing on the experience he gained making several starts in the previous two seasons, he turned in the best year of his career while stuffing the stat sheet with 66 tackles, seven pass breakups, 2.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception, earning himself several All-Pro votes in the process.
Moving towards 2023, the Seahawks hope to see a fully recovered Adams back in action and able to stay on the field once he returns. Since being acquired from the Jets for two first-round picks and a third-round pick prior to the 2020 season, he has struggled with durability, missing a grand total of 25 regular season games and a playoff game due to groin, shoulder, and knee injuries.
When healthy, Adams has been a difference maker, including setting an NFL record for defensive backs with 9.5 sacks in only 12 games in 2020. Though he didn't register a single sack the following season, prior to tearing the labrum in his left shoulder in a Week 13 win over San Francisco, he recorded a pair of interceptions in a four-game span, making tremendous strides in coverage for the Seattle.
While Neal starred in his own right and should have a significant role on Seattle's defense next year even with Adams back in the mix, Carroll remains eager to see what the former All-Pro can accomplish once he's overcome this latest setback and how much of a positive impact he can make on the defense as a whole with his game-wrecking ability. His presence would immediately improve the pass rush as well as a run defense that struggled mightily most of the season without him.
In the meantime, however, Carroll and the Seahawks will have to wait patiently to see that play out on the field with the possibility Adams could miss most, if not all, of their offseason program as he continues to work his way back to health. For the sake of the organization, with him carrying an $18.1 million cap hit next year, he will have to prove he can return to prior form with the investment made in him not paying off as planned to this point.
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