NFC West gets tougher as Seahawks add Jamal Adams from Jets

A year ago the San Francisco 49ers traded for Dee Ford. Just before the season, the Seattle Seahawks traded for Jadeveon Clowney. Midseason, the Los Angeles Rams traded for Jalen Ramsey. Earlier in this offseason, the Arizona Cardinals traded for DeAndre Hopkins and the 49ers traded for Trent Williams. Now the Seahawks have made another deal for a superstar in adding safety Jamal Adams from the New York Jets.

Seattle sent New York two first round picks, safety Bradley McDougald, and will be swapping a third for a fourth. They will also presumably be giving Adams a large contract extension.

The Seahawks also made a 2019 midseason acquisition of a defensive back, trading for safety Quandre Diggs from the Detroit Lions. Head coach Pete Carroll is hoping that Adams-Diggs can be at least as potent as Earl Thomas-Kam Chancellor was for him in the first half of last decade. The cost to do so is the same for him as it was for the Rams to acquire Ramsey: sitting out of two consecutive first rounds.

In yet another deal that happened this year, Seattle added cornerback Quinton Dunbar from the Washington Football Team, but he is being investigated for armed robbery and it is uncertain if he will be able to play. In any case, Carroll has been spending considerable expenses on his defense and specifically his secondary in an effort to combat the offensive firepower of the Rams, 49ers, and Cardinals.

LA still features two of the best receivers in the league, as well as two quality receiving tight ends. Arizona now has Hopkins and Larry Fitzgerald together for Kyler Murray, along with running back Kenyan Drake, who excelled in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense last season. Kyle Shanahan hopes to have the best rushing attack in the NFL but he also has Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and spent a first round pick on receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

While it is possible that no team in the NFC West has a top-10 offense next season, they also don’t appear to have any weaknesses and all seem to be capable of being exceptionally potent.

That would appear to be one reason for the Seahawks to feel comfortable making this move at this time, though another piece of motivation may be the relative uncertainty of next year’s draft. In what would also favor the Rams, who included their 2021 first round pick in the Ramsey trade, we’re not entirely sure what the 2021 NFL Draft will look like or if there will be a college football season. We’re also not entirely sure if the NFL season will happen and that may also motivate teams to make moves like this with next year’s picks.

Adams, 24, was the sixth overall pick in 2017 out of LSU. He has made each of the last two Pro Bowls, was a first team All-Pro in 2019, and has posted 10 sacks, two interceptions, five forced fumbles, 21 QB hits, and 19 passes defensed in the last two seasons combined. He also talked trash on his coaches so that he could force himself out of New York and that’s certainly something people will remember too when referencing Adam’s 2020 offseason, though Jets head coach Adam Gase has not been unfamiliar to criticisms.

The Rams first meet the Seahawks on November 15 at SoFi Stadium.