RENTON -- Jamal Adams has only been a member of the Seattle Seahawks for five days. However, Adams' excitement over being traded to Seattle by the New York Jets over the weekend has the newest Seahawk giddy about the chances of playing the rest of his career in the Emerald City.
In his first meeting with reporters since the trade was agreed upon on Saturday, Adams expressed his excitement over joining the Seahawks multiple times and said he hopes to plan the rest of his career in Seattle.
"The plan is to retire here," Adams said, via a zoom call from his hotel room. "This is my plan. But obviously, those things handle themselves. When all you have to do is just go on the field and perform, do the right things on and off the field, and those things will take care of itself, man. So I'm very excited to be here. I know the rest of the guys are excited to have me, and the coaching staff, and everybody else. So again, man, we'll worry about that when the time comes."
The Seahawks sent two first-round picks, a third-round pick and safety Bradley McDougald to the Jets in exchange for Adams and a fourth-round pick. It was a significant price to pay to bring the All-Pro safety to Seattle. Adams said he's ready for any added pressure that may come from such a price being spent to bring him in noting "no pressure, no diamonds, man."
"It's a new situation for me. It's new teammates. It's a new city. But at the end of the day man, I'm here to play football. I'm not focused on trying to prove anybody wrong. If anything, I'm trying to prove to myself of what I'm capable of doing in doing more I just want to keep elevating my game each and every year and that's what it's about," Adams said.
Adams said the lead up to the trade was an anxious time for him as he wasn't sure what was going to happen. He had requested a trade from the Jets and expressed his displeasure with several aspects of the organization multiple times in recent weeks.
“I was really stressed, I went out with my family, and some of my loved ones and my brothers and they could see it on my face how stressed I was because I didn’t know where I was going to go," Adams said.
“I prayed on it hard and I asked God to place me where I needed to be, whether that was go back to New York or whether that’s to be traded. This is my calling, man. I’m here to stay and I’m excited to be a Seattle Seahawk and I’m really overwhelmed, but at the same time, it’s so surreal to be around a great organization like Seattle.”
When it started to come through that Seattle was nearing the completion of a trade to bring him in, Adams' agent told him to keep it quiet and not tel anyway else. But Adams couldn't help himself. He immediately reached out to Seahawks free safety Quandre Diggs to tell him what might be happening.
"He's like a brother to me and we've known each other for a very long time and we always talked about 'man, what if we play together,'" Adams said.
Diggs was Adams' host on a recruiting visit to the University of Texas and the two became close friends afterward and remained in constant contact. When he finally got the call that the deal was done and he was heading to Seattle, Adams celebrated.
"When I got the call, honestly, I broke down in tears of joy," Adams said Thursday. "A lot of mixed emotions. I'm gonna miss a lot of the guys over there. But at the end of the day, man, this was my calling. This was where I need to be."
Despite the rocky ending to his tenure with the Jets, Adams said he harbors no ill feeling toward the team forward.
“I have nothing but love and respect for a lot of those guys over there in that organization,” Adams said. “I wish them well, I really do. I know a lot of people might, you know, think it’s not coming from the heart but it really is."
Photo Credit: LANDOVER, MD - NOVEMBER 17: Jamal Adams #33 of the New York Jets reacts to a play during the second half of the game against the Washington Redskins at FedExField on November 17, 2019 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)