The Jets made a really good pick three years ago, selecting safety Jamal Adams six picks into the draft. Adams was an immediate starter and has emerged as one of the league's best safeties. So it's perplexing that they can't find a way to make him happy.
His name was floated around the trade deadline last season; apparently he was almost dealt to Dallas. Now he's looking for a long-term deal, but nothing has come of it, leading to trade rumors being floated again. It's hard to imagine them moving him and getting a comparable player, because there aren't many of them.
Over his first three seasons in the league, Adams has racked up 273 tackles, which is 5th-most among defensive backs. But that's only part of what he's been doing. Over those same three seasons, using the play index tool at pro-football-reference.com, you can see that he's been the best playmaker at his position. No defensive back has more sacks (12), more quarterback hits (23) or more tackles for losses (28). This is a player the Jets can't find a way to work out a contract with?
DEFENSIVE BACK STATISTICS, 2017-2019 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | G | Sk | Solo | Ast | Comb | TFL | QBh |
Budda Baker | 46 | 3.5 | 240 | 83 | 323 | 18 | 7 |
Landon Collins | 42 | 1.0 | 223 | 94 | 317 | 17 | 7 |
Jordan Poyer | 47 | 5.0 | 207 | 95 | 302 | 17 | 6 |
Antoine Bethea | 47 | 4.0 | 228 | 60 | 288 | 8 | 8 |
Jamal Adams | 46 | 12.0 | 210 | 63 | 273 | 28 | 23 |
Shawn Williams | 43 | 2.0 | 195 | 78 | 273 | 9 | 6 |
Eric Reid | 42 | 5.0 | 200 | 68 | 268 | 13 | 9 |
Vonn Bell | 45 | 7.0 | 191 | 70 | 261 | 12 | 13 |
Kevin Byard | 48 | 2.0 | 184 | 77 | 261 | 8 | 8 |
Justin Simmons | 45 | 1.0 | 186 | 73 | 259 | 6 | 2 |
Malcolm Jenkins | 48 | 4.5 | 205 | 49 | 254 | 17 | 12 |
Logan Ryan | 45 | 8.5 | 177 | 74 | 251 | 10 | 13 |
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix | 48 | 1.0 | 207 | 43 | 250 | 3 | 2 |
Harrison Smith | 47 | 5.5 | 193 | 54 | 247 | 20 | 10 |
John Johnson | 38 | 0.0 | 162 | 83 | 245 | 6 | 2 |
Tyrann Mathieu | 48 | 6.0 | 203 | 39 | 242 | 14 | 10 |
Eric Weddle | 48 | 2.0 | 172 | 67 | 239 | 5 | 6 |
Devin McCourty | 48 | 1.0 | 185 | 52 | 237 | 4 | 1 |
Kareem Jackson | 45 | 2.0 | 172 | 59 | 231 | 13 | 3 |
Mark Barron | 41 | 5.0 | 174 | 54 | 228 | 14 | 7 |
Adrian Amos | 45 | 2.0 | 189 | 37 | 226 | 12 | 3 |
Tre Boston | 46 | 0.0 | 175 | 51 | 226 | 3 | 4 |
Bradley McDougald | 47 | 0.5 | 169 | 54 | 223 | 8 | 2 |
Reshad Jones | 34 | 1.5 | 168 | 53 | 221 | 11 | 2 |
James Bradberry | 47 | 3.0 | 175 | 45 | 220 | 4 | 3 |
Patrick Chung | 44 | 0.5 | 161 | 58 | 219 | 5 | 5 |
Jeff Heath | 44 | 0.0 | 167 | 52 | 219 | 11 | 2 |
Jahleel Addae | 48 | 1.5 | 153 | 63 | 216 | 10 | 2 |
Jabrill Peppers | 40 | 1.0 | 148 | 65 | 213 | 11 | 6 |
Micah Hyde | 47 | 0.0 | 156 | 56 | 212 | 4 | 1 |
Jessie Bates | 32 | 0.0 | 144 | 67 | 211 | 0 | 0 |
T.J. Carrie | 48 | 2.0 | 168 | 42 | 210 | 10 | 4 |
Kyle Fuller | 48 | 0.0 | 178 | 28 | 206 | 3 | 0 |
Kenny Vaccaro | 41 | 4.5 | 140 | 62 | 202 | 13 | 12 |
Brian Poole | 45 | 4.0 | 150 | 46 | 196 | 10 | 13 |
Byron Jones | 47 | 0.0 | 150 | 45 | 195 | 6 | 2 |
Damarious Randall | 40 | 2.5 | 155 | 38 | 193 | 9 | 3 |
Adrian Phillips | 38 | 0.0 | 138 | 55 | 193 | 7 | 2 |
Darqueze Dennard | 38 | 2.0 | 140 | 50 | 190 | 4 | 3 |
Desmond King | 47 | 6.5 | 153 | 36 | 189 | 14 | 12 |
Tavon Wilson | 41 | 4.0 | 141 | 48 | 189 | 11 | 5 |
Adoree' Jackson | 43 | 0.0 | 167 | 21 | 188 | 6 | 0 |
Marcus Williams | 46 | 1.0 | 148 | 39 | 187 | 1 | 0 |
Mike Hilton | 47 | 6.5 | 144 | 42 | 186 | 22 | 18 |
Shaquill Griffin | 45 | 1.0 | 150 | 36 | 186 | 7 | 1 |
Kendall Fuller | 42 | 1.0 | 141 | 45 | 186 | 6 | 1 |
Eddie Jackson | 46 | 2.0 | 147 | 37 | 184 | 8 | 1 |
Terrell Edmunds | 32 | 1.0 | 126 | 57 | 183 | 3 | 5 |
D.J. Swearinger | 40 | 1.5 | 135 | 47 | 182 | 2 | 3 |
Eli Apple | 41 | 0.0 | 156 | 26 | 182 | 0 | 2 |
Table shows the top 50 defensive backs in tackles over the last three years. If you sorted by any other category, Adams would come out on top.
Presumably the Jets will work things out. If not, arguably the league's best safety is going to make another defense really good this season.
--Andy Richardson