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Brady HendersonESPN
SEATTLE — Before Jamal Adams gets paid this offseason, he’ll have to get surgery.
More than one, in fact.
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Monday that the Pro Bowl strong safety will have surgery soon to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, an injury he played through in the team’s 30-20 wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Adams also needs surgery on two broken fingers on his left hand, according to Carroll, but not on the right shoulder he injured in Week 10.
All this comes as Adams and the Seahawks head toward a contract negotiation.
“Jamal had an incredible role this season,” Carroll said. “The juice that he brought, the competitiveness, the attitude of toughness, you just couldn’t miss him. He was banged up a good part of the season. He was hurt and he played really hurt in this last game and he found a way to do it. There was a question: Is he going to be able to play effectively enough to let him play? But his will was so strong and he just wouldn’t be denied on it and I wanted him to be a part of it. But he had to struggle through some plays in this game as you see when you watch closely. His toughness is just undeniably there.”
Carroll said there were plays against the Rams that Adams didn’t make because of his injured shoulder. Adams was in position to knock down, if not intercept, a throw that Cooper Kupp caught for 44 yards. He missed a tackle on a check-down to Cam Akers that also went for 44 yards.
Adams, 25, said his movement was restricted in his left arm because of a harness he wore to support his shoulder, which he had injured the week before.
“That’s not an excuse,” he said when asked about the role his injury played on Kupp’s catch. “I have to make the play.”
Adams was credited with four tackles and three passes defensed against the Rams.
“I was in a lot of pain, but I fought through it,” he said. “It’s never going to be about me. It’s about this team, it’s about winning, and as long as my legs are moving, I’m going to be out there.”
Adams’ 9.5 sacks in 12 regular-season games were the most ever by a defensive back since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. His 30 pressures were 14 more than any other DB, per ESPN Stats & Information research. Adams missed four games earlier in the year with a groin injury. He led the Seahawks with 14 tackles for loss and did not have an interception, keeping his career total at two over four seasons.
The Seahawks acquired Adams from the New York Jets last summer in a blockbuster trade, giving up a package of draft picks that included their first-round selections in 2021 and ’22. The contract the Seahawks inherited runs through the 2021 season, which is the fifth-year option the Jets had exercised.
At the time of the trade, the Seahawks planned to wait until this offseason to attempt to sign Adams to an extension.
“That’s something that is out of my hands right now,” Adams said. “I sure pray that I am here. I love being a Seattle Seahawk. I love being a part of this organization. It’s a special one with special people with special guys around, and young ladies as well. So when that time comes, it comes. But I’m worried about getting healthy right now and getting back and getting into the flow of everything and figuring out everything. So I’m not really focused on that right now.”
Carroll said safety/nickelback Marquise Blair is on track to be ready by training camp following surgery on the ACL tear he suffered in Week 2. Defensive end/outside linebacker Bruce Irvin, who suffered the same injury in the same game, recently had a second surgery for that injury.
“He’s come out of that really well but he’s behind because of that,” Carroll said.
Irvin is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent.