After Seattle Seahawks practice on Wednesday, reporters got a chance to ask safety Jamal Adams about his tweet (since deleted) directed toward New York Jets reporter Connor Hughes that included a photo of Hughes' wife that Adams captioned, "Yikes!" The tweet was a response to Hughes tweeting (X'ing?) a photo of Adams getting beat by Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson for a late touchdown in Week 13 and Hughes had captioned his tweet, "Yikes!"
But Jamal Adams came nowhere near an apology toward, well...maybe not Hughes himself, but at least for the disparaging remark about Hughes' wife. She was an innocent party in the tiff between Jamal Adams and Hughes and Adams could at least apologize to her.
I understand Adams getting his Seahawks feathers ruffled by Hughes. Hughes has a long history, going back to Adams' days with the New York Jets, of commenting negatively about Adams on social media. Hughes appears to have commented only about how well or poorly Adams was doing his job on the football while Adams' response to Hughes was far more personal (and in the end, not really about Hughes at all, but about Hughes' wife).
Jamal Adams answered reporters questions Wednesday about his infamous tweet
At least when asked by reporters about the tweet, Adams was candid and did not back away from answering. Still, his reaction to basically being trolled by a sports reporter, even if that reporter trolls him every single day, is only going to cause others to troll Adams because they will know he is bothered by such things. Social media can be extremely toxic; Many times letting posts and comments go, especially by people you don't know and do not want to know, is the best way.
Plus, many years after Jamal Adams' career is done, people will remember him and far fewer will remember Connor Hughes, possibly only in relation to Adams' tweet towards him.
But Adams answered reports in this way: "It’s always the athlete that crossed the line when he responds, but at the end of the day, disrespect is disrespect, however you want to take it. I responded. I knew when I did hit that tweet, I wasn’t in it to win it. At the end of the day it was to get him to understand to leave me the hell alone."
I understand Adam's intent, but the tweet was aimed at the wife and that was what made the response unfair. Adams made a reporter trolling him for years about what Adams does for his livelihood - and the reporter has not covered Adams' Seahawks ever - into a sympathetic character because Adams added the reporter's wife to the conversation.
Adams responded to a reporter asking if tweeting a photo of Hughes' wife was fair by saying, "I’m not here to say if it was fair or not, but I’m also here to say at the end of the day, it was personal. It’s been personal with him and I ever since I’ve been with the Jets...And I knew this only thing right here that I was going to tweet was going to hurt him. Anything else I would have said, it wouldn’t have hurt him. But he got my point. And he knows not to continue to mess with me."
Ahhh and here comes Mr. Potato head. Mr. Hughes right hand man. Truth be told, I do not care. I do not like you. Never liked you. You’re terrible at your job. You do not know me outside the game of football. So keep that shxt pushing. #Prez https://t.co/dlsxjTP1F0
— Jamal Adams (@Prez) December 2, 2023
Adams was also asked about another Jets reporter tweeting about Adams (after Adams tweeted the photo of Hughes' wife) saying the safety was a "phony" and a "bad guy" to which Adams posted a tweet that said, "I do not like you. Never liked you. You’re terrible at your job."
Honestly, while Adams still should not allow himself to be drawn into social media conversations when the other person's intent is clearly to try to bother Adams - Adams' responses only allow the troll to feel better about what they did, the above tweet is completely fair. Adams said Costello was bad at his job, which is what Hughes has been tweeting. Bringing the photo of Hughes' wife into the mix is what rightfully upset many people.
But Adams' response about the tweet directed toward Brian Costello was Costello "...responded to something that was not a part of y’alls team, and you obviously had something personal versus me. So hey, when others go low, I went lower."