Jets S Jamal Adams discussed a number of topics with Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News including his trade demands and opinions of HC Adam Gase and GM Joe Douglas.
Adams confirmed that Douglas has conveyed his willingness to trade him if the right deal is available. However, the Jets still have not given Adams and his representatives permission to seek a trade out of New York.
“It’s definitely mixed feelings,” Adams told Mehta. “But at the end of the day, my happiness is more important. I know my worth. I’m going to stand on my beliefs. I’m going to stand on who I am as a person. And I’m not ever going to change who I am for somebody who’s judging me. Either you accept me for who I am and you work with me and support me or you don’t. It’s okay if you don’t.”
Regarding Gase, Adams says he doesn’t “feel like he’s the right leader for this organization to reach the Promised Land.”
“I don’t feel like he’s the right leader for this organization to reach the Promised Land,” Adams said. “As a leader, what really bothers me is that he doesn’t have a relationship with everybody in the building.
“At the end of the day, he doesn’t address the team,” Adams added. “If there’s a problem in the locker room, he lets another coach address the team. If we’re playing sh—y and we’re losing, he doesn’t address the entire team as a group at halftime. He’ll walk out of the locker room and let another coach handle it.”
Adams claims he hasn’t spoken to Gase since his exit interview on the day after the end of the regular season (Dec. 30).
As for Douglas, Adams says he’s upset by the mixed messages he’s received from him regarding an extension.
“If they would have just simply said, ‘You know what, Jamal — we’re not going to look to pay you this year, we want to keep adding players — I would have respected that more,” Adams said. “I would say, ‘You know what? I respect it. As a man, I get it. I understand it’s a business.’ But for them to tell me that they’re going to pay me and then not send over a proposal after they said that’s what they were going to, that’s where we go wrong. And then for you to ignore me, that’s why I have a problem.
“Why would Joe come out and say, ‘We want to make Jamal a Jet for life?’ Why would you say that and then not even give me an offer?… Don’t B.S. me. I’m a straightforward guy. You don’t have to B.S. me, because I’m going to keep it honest.”
Adams did, however, confirm that he will be in attendance for training camp, even though he’s made it clear he would prefer to be playing for another team.
“I’m showing up for my teammates,” Adams said. “Obviously my love and passion for the game is very simple. You just turn on the tape and watch. No matter if we’re winning or we’re losing or we’re getting blown out, I’m still the same guy. I won’t change my tempo as far as how I play on the field. I’ll never slow down. At the end of the day, I’m trying to be the greatest player to ever play the game at my position. Or at least one of them. That’s my goal. I won’t let anybody knock me off that goal.”
“I want to win,” Adams said. “I want to be with an organization that wants to win and do things the right way.”
There are eight teams Adams would be interested in playing for including the Buccaneers, 49ers, Chiefs, Cowboys, Eagles, Ravens, Seahawks, and Texans.
However, the Jets have yet to grant him permission to seek a trade out of New York and multiple reports have said that they aren’t interested in moving him.
Adams is looking for a long-term extension that would make him the highest-paid safety in the game. The Jets have said they’re opening to signing him to an extension, but with two years of control, a new deal may not come until next year.
According to Calvin Watkins, there are certain teams Adams is willing to be traded to where he won’t request a contract extension.
Adams, 24, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2017. He just finished the third year of his four-year contract worth $22,256,084, which includes a signing bonus of $14,326,244.
The Jets exercised Adams’ fifth-year option before the draft, which will cost them $9.86 million for the 2021 season. This figure is guaranteed for injury only and won’t prevent them from working on a long-term extension in the next year or so.
In 2019, Adams appeared in 14 games for the Jets and recorded 75 tackles, 6.5 sacks, one interception, two forced fumbles, one recovery, two defensive touchdowns and seven pass defenses.
We’ll have more regarding the Jets and Adams as the news is available.
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