Jamal Adams trashes Adam Gase, explains what went wrong with the Jets

In June, it was reported by ESPN that Jamal Adams wanted to be traded as a result of his frustration with the team’s negotiations for a long-term contract.

Adams’ behavior since then has supported that, including the time he told a Cowboys fan that he’s trying to get traded to Dallas. ESPN’s report said the Jets did not want to trade him, but that the safety could “force their hand by being disruptive and staging a training camp holdout.” 

While Adams hasn’t been shy about posting on social media, he made his first public interview since the reported trade demand. He spoke with the New York Daily News about why he doesn’t like head coach Adam Gase, and why he wants to move on.

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“I don’t feel like he’s the right leader for this organization to reach the Promised Land,” Adams said about Gase. “As a leader, what really bothers me is that he doesn’t have a relationship with everybody in the building. At the end of the day, he doesn’t address the team. If there’s a problem in the locker room, he lets another coach address the team. If we’re playing s—y and we’re losing, he doesn’t address the entire team as a group at halftime. He’ll walk out of the locker room and let another coach handle it.”

The Daily News report goes into much more detail, but Adams is essentially upset with how the Jets handled contract negotiations. He claims the team said it wanted to give him a long-term deal, but then didn’t send a proposal.

“If they would have just simply said, ‘You know what, Jamal — we’re not going to look to pay you this year, we want to keep adding players — I would have respected that more,” Adams told the Daily News. “I would say, ‘You know what? I respect it. As a man, I get it. I understand it’s a business.’ But for them to tell me that they’re going to pay me and then not send over a proposal after they said that’s what they were going to, that’s where we go wrong. And then for you to ignore me, that’s why I have a problem.”

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The turning point, Adams said, is when general manager Joe Douglas wanted Adams to prove his loyalty to the franchise. The safety felt he had done that already in his years with the franchise and told the Daily News he felt insulted by the request.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Adams wanted to be traded to one of seven teams: Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. 

Despite ESPN’s initial report that Adams may hold out of training camp, the safety told the Daily News he will report. However, he still would like to be traded.