All-Pro safety Jamal Adams and the New York Jets reportedly reached an impasse in contract negotiations, reopening the door for trade speculation.
According to Gary Myers, a former Dallas Morning News and New York Daily News columnist, the chatter around the Cowboys making a play for Adams could be much more than that.
“The latest just now from my Jamal Adams source: ‘The Cowboys are seriously in play now that they confirmed the Jets want 1st and 3rd round picks for Adams.’ ‘Boys $5.6M under cap and need to get long-term deal done with Dak to lower his $31.4M franchise number to sign Adams,” Myers posted via Twitter on Friday.
The Jets want to wait to do a long-term extension while Adams wants one done before the season. Timing is on the Jets’ side, as Adams, 24, is entering his fourth season and is due to make $3.5 million in 2020. The Jets also exercised his fifth-year option, putting him under team control for the next two seasons before his contract runs out.
If he plays on his fifth-year option, Adams would make $9.9 million in 2021.
According to ESPN, the two sides even talked about the possibility of a trade, something Adams reportedly is open to but that the Jets want no part of. More than half the teams in the NFL have reached out to the Jets with interest in a possible trade for Adams, per ESPN.
At last season’s trade deadline, reports surfaced that the Jets had entertained offers for Adams, leaving him furious despite the club holding onto him.
In his three seasons, Adams has established himself as one of the best safeties in the league. He has made the Pro Bowl in each of the past two seasons and was a first-team All-Pro last season.
Adams has also proven to be quite durable, starting each of the first 44 games of his career before missing two games late last season. The two games potentially cost him a shot at history, as he finished with 6.5 sacks, 1.5 short of the single-season record for a safety (Adrian Wilson, 2015).
“I’m going to beat the record,” Adams said last November, two weeks before an ankle injury sidelined him. “Yes, I will beat the record. That’s something that I will get.”
Jets general manager Joe Douglas said after the 2020 NFL Draft, when rumors swirled of Adams’ interest in playing for the Cowboys, that he planned to keep Adams.
“The plan would be for Jamal to be here long term,” Douglas said. “Again, I’ve also made it known I have to do what’s in the best interest of the team. If other teams call to talk about players, I’ll listen.”
