12s may need to start thinking of a Seahawks life without Jamal Adams

Seahawks safety might be very good if he can manage to stay healthy for an entire season in Seattle. But this seems to be growing less and less likely.

In practice on Wednesday, Jamal Adams broke the middle finger on his left hand in a “freak accident,” a source told the Seattle Times. The thing about that is, though, this offseason Adams had surgery to fuse his middle and ring fingers on the same hand to make breaking his fingers a lot less likely.

So either the surgeon that did the surgery needs to lose his license to practice or Adams is just very brittle. The last part of that is seemingly the most likely.

Since coming to Seattle in 2020, Adams has had shoulder surgeries and finger surgeries. While it does seem Adams was misused by former Seahawks defensive coordinator Ken Norton, Jr. in 2021 and Adams wasn’t pressuring quarterbacks nearly as much, perhaps all the blame shouldn’t go on Norton.

Seahawks safety Jamal Adams seems to stay injured

Maybe the Seahawks simply know that Adams, though only 26 years old, has the body of a 35-year-old. He may have just taken a lot of ferocious hits – and given the same kind out – in his NFL career and all that pounding is taking a toll.

Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard said as much on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk podcast last week. In fact, Huard said he wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the 2022 season, Marquise Blair is starting in place of Adams.

If this were three years ago, that would have been a shocking statement. But in 2022 that appears to be a realistic possibility. Not that Blair has any luck staying healthy either but he has at least taken fewer shots than Adams has.

Adams has always struggled a bit in coverage and that hasn’t been injury-related. But he does – or did – have a unique ability to rush the passer and play the run. His injuries are likely to affect that ability and if Adams doesn’t have that then he is probably just an average safety.

The hope is that he comes back in early August and is definitely ready for Week 1 in September. But even if he does return, the Seahawks should just be holding their collective breaths that he doesn’t get hurt again. At this point, that seems like false hope.