Bucky Brooks, from https://www.nfl.com/news/pats-contenders-despite-attrition-jamal-adams-perfect-for-seahawks
JAMAL ADAMS TRADE: A title-winning move?
Is Jamal Adams the final piece to the Seahawks’ championship puzzle?
That’s the question observers around the football world are asking after Seattle acquired the All-Pro safety in a blockbuster trade. The Seahawks shipped a pair of first-round picks, a third-rounder and safety Bradley McDougald to the New York Jets in exchange for the disgruntled playmaker.
The reactions on Twitter scorched the ‘Hawks for mortgaging their future for one player, particularly one who doesn’t play a marquee position. Most observers view pass rushers and cornerbacks as the essential pieces of a championship defense, based on their ability to directly impact the quarterback. But what if I told you that safeties, particularly box safeties, are undervalued in the team-building process?
Just look around the league for the growing number of hybrid defenders occupying safety/linebacker roles. From Derwin James to Tyrann Mathieu to Adams, you’re seeing more teams utilize box safeties as valuable pieces on the chessboard. Creative defensive coordinators are featuring more “big” nickel/dime defensive packages with a couple of defensive backs acting as linebackers to combat the spread offenses and athletic quarterbacks who are dominating the league.
“The strong safety position is becoming more and more important in this game,” Pro Football Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian told me on a recent episode of the Move The Sticks podcast. “The more we see the athletic quarterback and the option become a part of the game, which didn’t exist five or six years ago, we now have to have a player in the secondary who can either run the alley or play near the line of scrimmage.
“He must be able to cover in zone, cover a slot in man and press a slot, if necessary, and absolutely take the quarterback or pitch and be able to tackle Lamar Jackson or Cam Newton in space in order to play solid defense. … Now it’s 11-on-11, instead of 11-on-10 like it used to be.”
The five-time Pro Football Writers of America Executive of the Year brings up great points when discussing the value of a strong safety. The presence of a box defender with enough versatility to make his mark as a run stopper and cover man is a valued commodity. I witnessed it firsthand in 1996, with LeRoy Butler earning first-team All-Pro honors for the Green Bay Packers as hybrid safety/nickel back for the Super Bowl XXXI champions. Butler finished that season with 87 tackles, 6.5 sacks and five interceptions playing in a newly created role by the late Fritz Shurmur. Butler would align as a high safety on early downs, then play near the line of scrimmage on passing downs as a part of a nickel package that featured myriad blitzes, pressures and exotic coverages. The crafty utilization of Butler drove opponents crazy as they were unable to identify him as a potential rusher due to his various alignments and coverage responsibilities in a multi-faceted defense. This creative approach left an impression on me, and I’m sure that it also impacted a young personnel executive in that Green Bay office: John Schneider, the Seahawks GM who just traded for Adams.
With Schneider having watched Butler’s dominance in a critical role on a championship team, I’m sure he values the strong safety position more than some team-builders in the league. Schneider witnessed Butler’s impact on those mid-1990s Packers teams and likely jotted notes on how a playmaking safety can add a dimension to a defense. He also watched Charles Woodson earn Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2009 as a Swiss Army Knife in Green Bay’s secondary. The impact and versatility displayed by Adams, who plays the game more like Butler than Woodson, likely earned him high marks in Seattle’s war room when the trade was discussed amongst scouts.
Pete Carroll’s undoubtable influence on the trade shouldn’t be understated, either, based on his scheme preference and experience with top safeties. Kam Chancellor certainly comes to mind when pondering Adams’ potential role with the ‘Hawks, but Troy Polamalu could be the veteran coach’s point of reference when he looks at Adams. The Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee thrived as a strong safety under Carroll at USC before making his mark as a dynamic playmaker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The four-time first-team All-Pro and 2010 Defensive Player of the Year obliterated opponents as a box defender. Polamalu harassed quarterbacks on timely blitzes, chased down runners all over the field and made a handful of critical interceptions on instinctive reads on the way to earning a gold jacket for his efforts.
Adams is the perfect fit in Carroll’s scheme, as a box safety in a defense that primarily features single-high coverage. Seattle’s run defense was shredded last season, as the ‘Hawks attempted to employ more split-safety looks (Cover 2 and Cover 4). In 2020, Seattle will return to the scheme that fueled the team’s defensive dominance in the 2010s. Adams will play as the low defender lurking near the line of scrimmage with a variety of responsibilities ranging from blitzing to robbing short crossers to matching up with tight ends and slot receivers. He will impact the game as the Seahawks’ designated enforcer and bring back the intimidation that’s been missing since Chancellor’s retirement.
Sure, the cost of acquiring a blue-chip playmaker entering his prime robs the ‘Hawks of valuable draft picks, but the team has traditionally picked in the 20s. And Seattle’s recent No. 1 selections (Germain Ifedi, Rashaad Penny and L.J. Collier) haven’t exactly set the world on fire anyway.
With Adams poised to give the defense a five-star playmaker to play alongside Bobby Wagner in the middle of the field, the Seahawks’ new safety could indeed be the piece that brings another Lombardi Trophy to the Pacific Northwest.
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