-
Brady Henderson, ESPN
The Seattle Seahawks released safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs and tight end Will Dissly on Tuesday, the team announced.
Adams, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, was set to make a non-guaranteed $16.5 million in 2024 and count $26.9 million against the salary cap — untenable amounts for a player who has been unable to stay on the field or get to the quarterback since his stellar Seattle debut in 2020.
Adams’ release wipes the $16.5 million off the Seahawks’ books as well as the $17.5 million (also non-guaranteed) he was scheduled to make in 2025, the final year of his contract.
The Seahawks are not using a post-June 1 designation with Adams’ release, a source told ESPN. That means they will save $6.1 million against the 2024 cap, according to Over The Cap, while absorbing all of his $20.83 million in dead money right away.
By releasing Diggs, the Seahawks free up $11 million in cap space and take on $10.26 million in dead money, per OTC, while Dissly’s release clears $7 million and creates $3.1 million in dead money.
Between three straight injury-shortened seasons, zero sacks in that span and the unwieldy price tag, it seemed as though Adams’ days in Seattle were numbered.
The Seahawks parted with two first-round picks to acquire Adams from the New York Jets in 2020 — one of the biggest swings of the John Schneider/Pete Carroll era — and then made him the NFL’s highest-paid safety a year later with a four-year, $70 million extension.
Adams made his third straight Pro Bowl during his debut season with the Seahawks while setting a record for defensive backs with 9.5 sacks, but Adams hasn’t recorded a single sack since then.
Diggs was acquired in a 2019 trade with the Detroit Lions. He was selected to three straight Pro Bowls (2020-2022) with the Seahawks and had 18 interceptions in his time with the team, though he turned 31 in January and was set to count $21.3 million in the final year of his contract.
He posted a career-best 95 tackles last season and had 324 in 72 games with the Seahawks.
Dissly, Seattle’s 2018 fourth-round draft pick, had 127 catches for 1,421 yards and 13 touchdowns in six seasons with the team. His release was also considered likely given that he was set to count $10.1 million cap in the final year of his deal after catching only 17 passes last season.
After missing only two games in his first three seasons with the Jets, Adams couldn’t stay healthy in Seattle. He missed four games in 2020 with a groin strain and needed surgeries the following offseason to repair a torn left shoulder labrum as well as two broken fingers on his left hand.
That was the start of a run of injuries that Adams was unable to shake. He missed the final five games of 2021 after retearing his labrum, which required a second shoulder surgery the following offseason. He had another procedure to fuse the two fingers he had dislocated again.
In the first half of the 2022 opener, Adams tore the quadriceps tendon above his left knee, a devastating injury that sidelined him for the first three games of 2023 and slowed him all season until the Seahawks shut him down in December. Upon his return from the quad injury, Adams said he was in such a dark place that he briefly considered retirement.
Adams’ first game back from that injury in Week 4 of last season was cut short by a first-quarter concussion, which led to an outburst by the safety against the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant (UNC) who had examined him on the sideline. Adams apologized for that incident and wasn’t fined, though the NFL docked him $50,000 after another run-in with a UNC two weeks later.
Adams’ 2023 season was further marred by controversy when he disparaged an NFL reporter’s wife on X in December. After Adams allowed the go-ahead touchdown in a loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the reporter — who had previously covered Adams in his Jets days — posted a clip of the play along with the caption, “Yikes.” Adams then found a picture of the reporter and his wife, posted it and included the same caption, “Yikes.”
That response drew a light admonishment from Carroll and no apology from Adams, who doubled down on his reasoning behind the post. On the field last season, Adams appeared in nine games, recording seven tackles for loss and two QB hits.
Over four years in Seattle, Adams missed 33 of a possible 67 regular-season games. He recorded 9.5 sacks (all in 2020), 19 quarterback hits, 22 tackles for loss, 11 passes defended and 2 interceptions.
