The New York Jets and Joe Douglas executed a blockbuster trade over the past weekend, sending star safety Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks for a deal that include a net return of three draft picks, two of which are future first-rounders, and another safety in Bradley McDougald.
Making that trade was Jets general manager Joe Douglas, whose front office dropped the ball on what was initially contract extension negotiations with Adams, 24, a third-year do-it-all safety with already two Pro Bowl appearances and a first-team All-Pro selection for his NFL credentials.
Speaking to the media for the first time since Saturday's months-in-the-making trade between the Jets and Seahawks, Douglas shut down the suggestion that he messed up a “promise” to Adams (via NFL Network's Kim Jones on Twitter).
Douglas entered the fray in New York in June of last year—after Gang Green already hired a new head coach in Adam Gase and after their 2019 NFL Draft. In his tenure in charge of the Jets, Douglas has pursued revamping New York's offensive line along with stockpiling future draft picks (coincidentally, loading up on picks in 2021 when there may not be a college football season in 2020-21).
Also with Douglas in charge, the Jets saw relations with Adams, a former sixth-overall pick out of LSU by the AFC East franchise, strained, most notably days leading up to the trade when the All-Pro safety put Gase and Douglas on blast in an exclusive interview with the New York Daily News. Adams had strong words against Gase in particular, as the former Miami Dolphins coach, now entering his second year with New York, was criticized for not engaging with every player in the locker room.
Adams will start a new chapter in his professional career with Seattle while the Jets try to move forward with a competent safety in McDougald, more draft picks to help rebuild and perhaps assist rising third-year quarterback Sam Darnold, and of course resolving, in one way or another, the headache of Adams' public resistance to the team.