Pete Carroll “ecstatic” about Jamal Adams trade after first 12 games

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One benefit of the Jamal Adams trade for the Seattle Seahawks is that they won’t have to face him on the other sidelines when the New York Jets come to town this weekend.

But, of course, that’s not the only benefit the Seahawks have felt from their offseason acquisition of Adams.

Head coach Pete Carroll was asked on Monday to give his thoughts about the Adams trade for the team through the first 12 games of the year.

“Oh shoot, ecstatic. Ecstatic about it,” Carroll said. “He’s been everything we could have hoped for at this point and he’s going to keep getting better. He played a really good game yesterday. He didn’t get to pressure quite as much, they didn’t throw the ball quite as much. But he had another sack. He’s a fantastic player. I’m thrilled about the trade.”

The Seahawks acquired Adams and a fourth-round pick in 2022 from the Jets in exchange for two first-round picks, a third-round pick and safety Bradley McDougald in late July.

Adams has 7.5 sacks for Seattle in just eight games played for the team this season. He has picked up a sack in six of those games he’s appeared in and is just a half sack behind Adrian Wilson for the record for most sacks in a season by a defensive back (8.0). For a team that had significant concerns about its pass rush, Adams has been one bright spot in the group along with the addition of Carlos Dunlap at midseason. The Seahawks rank seventh in the league in sacks with 33 through 12 games.

Adams did miss four games due to a groin injury. He’s also been dealing with a sore should that few weeks after hurting it early in the team’s loss to the Los Angeles.

Seattle’s defense won’t easily be confused with the Legion of Boom era units any time soon but the team has played much better in recent weeks with Adams back in the lineup. They’ve allowed an average of 19.5 points per game over the stretch with no more than 23 points scored in a game. They hadn’t allowed fewer than 23 points in any game played over the first eight games of the season.

Adams has said it’s taken time for himself and the defense as a whole to get comfortable due to rotating parts and lack of playing time together.

“Coming together, man,” Adams said last week. “Everybody’s getting healthy. We’re starting to understand the defense as a whole. We’re playing together. We’re playing as one. Like I said from the beginning, we knew what we had. We knew what type of talent we had. It was only a matter of time.”