Adams speaks

[D-train]

First time since his injury. 20 weeks in a cast. 140 days.

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter
RENTON — In the moment that it happened, Jamal Adams knew.

He knew he’d injured his knee seriously, that he might have to undergo another long rehab.

Knew it meant he had no idea when he’d play football again.

But in that moment, he did everything in his power to try to pretend as if nothing had happened.

After tearing the quad muscle in his left knee in the second quarter of a game last Sept. 12 at Lumen Field while trying to sack his old friend and Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, Adams insisted on walking off the field.


“I didn’t want to get carted off,” he said. “I was kind of like in denial, like why did it happen? How did it happen? … I didn’t want to get on that cart. I didn’t want to see everybody just stopping and clapping for me as I go off. I didn’t want that. I just wanted the game to continue.”

But once in the locker room, upon greeting his father, George, and other family members, the harsh reality began to sink in.

And it took him, Adams said, to “a dark place,” one in which he said he even gave a brief thought to giving up football.

“That was definitely something I was considering,” Adams said. “I was considering everything at the moment. I was in a dark place. Not on anything suicidal, but definitely in a lot of dark times.”

Adams, though, will finally emerge from that darkness into maybe the brightest NFL lights possible — MetLife Stadium in a prime-time game Monday night against the New York Giants.

Adams spoke to Seattle reporters Friday for the first time since his injury, doing so for over 17 minutes to discuss not only his recovery but his excitement at finally playing football again for only the second time since Dec. 5, 2021.

“Opportunity of a lifetime,” he called it. “And I don’t take it for granted. I don’t take days for granted. You know, the injury, it didn’t just teach me more about the game of football. It taught me a lot about life, what my purpose is and just how I go about my business.”

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Adams doesn’t figure to immediately return to his starting spot at strong safety, which Julian Love has held this year in his absence. But he does figure to get on the field in some specialty packages, such as three-safety sets in which he plays closer to the line as essentially another linebacker.

That’s a package the team spent a substantial period working on during training camp in 2022. And it was on a play when he aligned as a linebacker and rushed Wilson that he got hurt.

“Obviously just coming off a blitz,” Adams recalled. “I planted wrong. My foot was going left, I was going right. Obviously, Russ ducked a little bit. I torqued my body a little bit and it snapped on me. Just getting up and knowing that it’s not attached, it was devastating. Obviously, I walked off. I tried to run off best I could. But I knew something was wrong when I got to the sideline and seen my kneecap to the right of my knee and obviously they told me the news. So that was hard. That was a low moment for me, man.”

The knee injury came in the wake of a shoulder injury that ended his 2021 season after 12 games that required surgery and a lengthy rehab, as well as laboring through groin, finger and labrum injuries that also limited him to 12 games in 2020, his first with the Seahawks.

That Adams had missed only two games in three years with the Jets before his trade to Seattle only added to his confusion and dismay over suffering his most serious injury yet.

“Just been through so much, man,” he said. “Just a lot going on as far as mentally going through these injuries, not understanding why these things are happening to me, what am I doing wrong that is causing [them]. … I was having all kinds of thoughts running through my mind.”

But while in the immediacy of the moment Adams said he considered retiring, a short while later after he saw the MRI of the injury he said, “I told myself ‘I’m going to be back.’ I didn’t know when or how, but I was going to figure it out.”

He had surgery the following week, then returned to his native Dallas area to begin an arduous rehab process.

That included, Adams said, roughly 20 weeks in a straight cast in which he needed assistance to handle basic life tasks.

“I couldn’t do anything by myself,” he said. “I couldn’t be independent. Couldn’t get out the bed, couldn’t shower by myself. So, you know, you talk about being up here [metaphorically] and just coming down, being in a wheelchair. You know, it’s a different ballgame. So mentally, I’m a lot stronger than when I was you know, last season before I hurt myself.”

Adams spent much of the offseason rehabbing alongside Seahawks teammate and fellow Texas native Jordyn Brooks. He said a turning point came in June when he was finally able to fully run.

While he’s ready to return to football, Adams says there is still work to be done to get fully back.

“I had to start over, man,” he said. “That’s why I call it the rebuild. This whole time I had to rebuild, start from the ground up and work my way up and I’m still continuing to grow and continuing to work on my rehab. It’s not going to stop. It’s just going to continue.”

But one carrot Adams held out for himself was getting back in time for the return to MetLife and the city where he began his career.

While he said he is going to try to treat it as just another game, he didn’t deny that he pointed to this week all along for his return.

“This was kind of my mindset and my goal to get back to Week Four,” Adams said.

The Seahawks made that possible when they took him off the physically unable to perform list in late August — had he stayed on it into the regular season, he would have had to miss at least four games.

Adams said the timing was perfect to allow him to make up for the lost training camp time with practices and walk-throughs and allow him to return not just where he began his career but also where his father, George, played from 1985-89 as a running back for the Giants.

“I knew Week Four was going to be a special moment,” he said. “Just being back in MetLife is special.”

But mostly, he said, he’s looking forward just to being a football player again.

He said the injury, uncertainty and recovery has given him a newfound appreciation for even the more mundane aspects of NFL life, such as flying with his teammates to New York, and even taking to the podium to speak to the media.

“You know, man I haven’t hit anybody in a long time,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to it, man, I can tell you that. I won’t take a play for granted. I won’t take a moment or a second for granted.”

[maoling]

He sure talks purty.

He talks the talk.

Will he walk the walk?


https://youtu.be/0hBSGEzpw-8?si=VxeXNa4lvnFaGM7S

[D-train]

Jamal's Dad George.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... amGe00.htm

[douche]

But once in the locker room, upon greeting his father, George, and other family members, the harsh reality began to sink in.

And it took him, Adams said, to “a dark place,” one in which he said he even gave a brief thought to giving up football.

“That was definitely something I was considering,” Adams said. “I was considering everything at the moment. I was in a dark place. Not on anything suicidal, but definitely in a lot of dark times.”

“Just been through so much, man,” he said. “Just a lot going on as far as mentally going through these injuries, not understanding why these things are happening to me, what am I doing wrong that is causing [them]. … I was having all kinds of thoughts running through my mind.”

Have you ever been seriously injured? To the point where you can't do everyday things... like brush your teeth or wipe your own ass? I'll tell you, it can weigh very heavily on a person's mental well-being. It did for me.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

It must be pretty tough to get paid millions of dollars to do nothing but rehab an injury with a support staff guiding you every step of the way.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

I would have more sympathy for what he went through if he hadn't played hardball on his contract negotiation knowing he had leverage due to the draft capital they had already given up to get him here.

[Gametime]

I would have more sympathy for what he went through if he hadn't played hardball on his contract negotiation knowing he had leverage due to the draft capital they had already given up to get him here.

Totally agree. Talked big and didn’t produce.

[Nwadventure]

Guy took so many plays off even when he was healthy -Seemed like he didn't even care about the game after cashing all of them checks- Will see what happens but not expecting much.

[D-train]

Adams pleads not guilty by reason of insanity.

[Michael K.]

Guy took so many plays off even when he was healthy -Seemed like he didn't even care about the game after cashing all of them checks- Will see what happens but not expecting much.

Adams? I’ve heard lots of shit talked about him, but taking plays off?