John Schneider defends draft capital given up in Jamal Adams trade

The Seahawks released Adams after four injury-plagued seasons with the team.

The Seattle Seahawks made some major salary cap decisions earlier this week, releasing (among others) starting safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs to free up space ahead of free agency. There has been heavy scrutiny of the Adams trade, which was costly in terms of both draft capital used and the market-setting contract that made Jamal (briefly) the NFL’s highest-paid safety.

In his weekly radio appearance on Seattle Sports 710, Seahawks general manager John Schneider lamented the injuries that Adams suffered throughout his time with the team, but also defended how much they gave up to get him from the New York Jets.

“It was the COVID year. We were picking (23rd overall in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft), and in order to go from where we were and trying to (move) up to pick a guy like Jamal, who was picked (sixth overall in 2017), you’ve got to give up another first-round pick the next year,” Schneider said. “He came in here, our coaches did a great job with him, he had 9.5 sacks, goes to the Pro Bowl, is completely disruptive. He comes back the next year, he’s having a good season, gets hurt. Then he gets hurt again (Week 1 of 2022) – like really, really bad injury. So I feel bad for him.”

If your memory needs jogging, the Seahawks gave up 2021 and 2022 first-round picks, a 2021 third-round pick, and safety Bradley McDougald in exchange for Adams and a 2022 fourth-rounder. The Jets turned Seattle’s picks into guard Alijah Vera-Tucker and wide receiver Garrett Wilson—New York dealt two of the Seahawks picks to the Minnesota Vikings, who selected tackle Christian Darrisaw and guard Wyatt Davis. Seattle drafted CB/S Coby Bryant with their 2022 fourth-rounder.

The 2021 NFL Draft did not have a traditional combine due to COVID, and with many schools and conferences having truncated seasons and opt-outs, it made for a messier draft process than usual. Outside of the top-half of Round 1, this doesn’t look like it’ll go down as a special class, but it wasn’t like there was no promising talent scattered throughout a draft that saw the Seahawks make just three selections.

This is what we wrote at the time the trade happened:

We knew that Adams would cost quite a bit to acquire but I’m still shocked that the Seahawks even did this. That is a ton of draft capital they’ve given up, even for someone as good as Adams. If this trade works, then Seattle has a potentially fantastic safety trio of Adams, Quandre Diggs, and Marquise Blair. If it backfires… this is the type of trade that could be the undoing of John Schneider and Pete Carroll. It’s a “win now” trade in ways that we’ve not really seen out of Seattle, even by their shock offseason trade standards.

I suspect that there’s nothing Schneider could say that would persuade anyone who was against the trade to begin with to side with him on this issue. Trading multiple first-round picks for a player has historically had very mixed results for the acquiring team, and the Seahawks remain the only team over the past 40 years to deal multiple firsts for a safety.

Incidentally, Schneider also used a familiar line frequently heard from Pete Carroll, saying that they “haven’t shut the door” on any of the released players to come back. Maybe Adams could return, but don’t count on it.

Have a full listen below.