After five months of intense negotiations, Jamal Adams has finally secured the bag. The Seattle Seahawks locked up one of their main stars with a long-term contract on Tuesday, signing Adams to a four-year extension worth $70 million, making him the NFL's highest-paid safety.
Adams's lucrative deal with Seattle has a maximum value of $72 million over the four added years and includes a $20 million signing bonus. Agents Kevin Conner and Robert Brown of Universal Sports also told ESPN's Adam Schefter that Adams would receive a guaranteed payday of $38 million, a huge reason why the deal was ultimately finalized.
Adams lands huge payday with Seattle after Jets trade
The four-year extension will be added to the final year of Adams' rookie contract, so the 25-year-old is now under the Seahawks' control up until the 2025 season. He will earn $9.86 million this year as part of the rookie deal he signed with the New York Jets back in 2017.
Knowing this huge payday will come, the Jets decided to trade him last year to the Seahawks for several draft picks, including Seattle's coveted first-round selections in 2021 and 2022. Seahawks fans were starting to feel uneasy as negotiations between the two parties dragged into the preseason, but now they can heave a huge sigh of relief that the deal is already done.
Adams could have pushed for more, but a message from his mother Michelle, made him accept the deal, saying, "As long as my family's happy and I'm happy, I can come and do what I love to do, that's all that matters to me."
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Adams sets a new bar for safety salaries in the NFL
Adams has every reason to be happy as his new average salary of $17.5 million makes him the league's highest-paid safety and the 17th highest-paid defender. He is now the third highest-paid player in the Seahawks organization, trailing only franchise quarterback Russell Wilson ($35 million) and linebacker Bobby Wagner ($18 million).
Wilson immediately posted on Twitter to congratulate Adams on his new deal, saying that he is the best in the world and is deserving of his new contract. Seattle head coach Pete Carroll was also delighted with Adams' new deal, saying, "It took a while to get it done, but it's over now."
The contract did take some time as Adams wanted a deal that would surpass the $15.25 million yearly average that safety Justin Simmons is making on his contract with the Denver Broncos. Though he reported on training camp time, Adams decided not to practice with the Seahawks with his contract extension still not in place.
With the deal already done, Adams can now focus again on playing football. He was a beast on the defensive end for the Seahawks last campaign, setting the league's single-season record for sacks by a defensive back with 9.5.
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