The Doc’s Stock Report: Jamal Adams

Joe Douglas traded the best player on his team. The Jets, a perennial team of dysfunction, has found itself a worse team than it was less than 24 hours ago. Did they get a good return for a player who was vocal about his displeasure and contract status? Absolutely. When comparing this trade to the Dolphins trade for Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Dolphins were absolutely ripped off by the Steelers. Jet fans however will be the ones feeling ripped off when chants of Just End The Season may come even earlier this year.

Jamal Adams and a fourth round pick go from the Jets to the Seahawks for Bradley McDougald, two first round picks and a third round pick. The Jets made out well and will have two first round picks in each of the next two drafts. The Seahawks get a top 5 safety, who some consider the best safety in the league. So where does this leave Adams’ fantasy value? Stock DOWN is the forecast. 

Last season Seattle played the highest percentages of plays in base 4-3 at 68.8% which was almost 40% higher than the average NFL team at 27%. McDougald was their SS and recorded 70 total tackles in 15 games. The telling number was he only recorded 2 QB hits and half a sack.  One of the reasons Adams is worth so much in IDP leagues was his high number of big plays. 

Adams had a similar tackle total, 75 in 14 games, but he had 6.5 sacks and 13 QB hits. He also had 10 tackles for loss compared to just one for McDougald. Was this a product of the Seahawks defensive scheme or is McDougald just not capable of producing the way Adams does?  

In that scheme, with teams running 3 receiver sets or 12 personnel, McDougald had to be responsible for coverage. Seattle relied on their linebackers to be the “nickel” and drop into coverage but they are also a talented group who were in on a lot of tackles. If Seattle continues to play this way, it may limit Adams’ upside. They have made some personnel changes which could lead them to playing more nickel coverage, allowing them to use Adams in a way similar to the way the Jets used him.

After trading for a player of this caliber, you would hope the Seahawks adjust their scheme to make the most use of Adams who excels at blitzing and flying towards the ball. Ranking Adams first is now tough considering we don’t know how Pete Carroll is going to use him. I am going to drop Adams down to the 5th spot. It may lead you to get a slight bargain, but I would take these four players before I took Adams right now.

If you’re drafting soon, make sure you update your cheat sheets. I will be updating my rankings for all positions soon. Good luck in your prep and remember, if you’re not playing IDP, you’re doing it wrong. I’m @gasdoc_spit on Twitter and always available to answer your questions.