J. Adams on social media spat: Leave me alone

Brady Henderson, ESPNDec 6, 2023, 07:24 PM ET
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RENTON, Wash. — Amid criticism on social media and disapproval from coach Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks safety Jamal Adams stood by the intention behind his since-deleted post in which he fired back at an NFL reporter who had commented on his play.

The reporter, who covered Adams during the safety’s time with the New York Jets before the Seahawks acquired him in a July 2020 trade, reposted a video on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday night of Adams allowing the go-ahead touchdown pass in a 41-35 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The accompanying comment from the reporter was “Yikes.”

Adams responded on X by posting a picture of the reporter’s wife along with the same comment: “Yikes.”

Asked about the perception that he crossed a line, Adams interjected.

“Oh, it’s always the athlete crossed the line when he responds,” Adams said Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, disrespect is disrespect. However you want to take it. So 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.”

Adams said he and the reporter have “previous history” and that they “don’t like each other.”

“He’s been going on saying a couple things since the trade, and obviously it’s been happening before that, and I just got fed up with it,” Adams said. “… Whether it was uncalled for or not, my ultimate goal was to get [him] to not respond to me anymore. That was the key, and that’s what I hope it is.”

Adams also fired back — on X and in the locker room Wednesday — at another New York reporter who had weighed in by calling Adams a bad person.

“He’s another one,” Adams said. “Do not like. … At the end of the day, hey, you 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.”

Earlier, Carroll said that he’s addressed the since-deleted post with Adams.

“I don’t know if it was a great decision at the time,” Carroll said. “I’m not sure about the details of it, but I know that he realized that he needed to take it down — what he had put up. We don’t want to be a part of that.”

A smiling Adams said his talk with Carroll was “a great conversation.”

Asked about the perception that he responded to critique of his play with a personal attack, Adams said the reporter’s commentary was also personal.

“It’s been personal with him and I ever since I’ve been with the Jets,” Adams said. “… I just got fed up with it, bro. It was just the end of it, 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 wouldn’t have hurt him, but he got my point and he knows not to continue to mess with me.”

He later added: “I hate that I had to bring her into the situation, but at the end of the day, the ultimate goal was to get at him.”

Adams, 28, is in his seventh NFL season and fourth with the Seahawks. He missed most of last season with a torn quad tendon.