Seahawks: Adams’ knee will need ‘some work’

SEATTLE — Seahawks safety Jamal Adams suffered a serious left knee injury Monday night and will “have to get some work on that,” coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday morning on his weekly radio show.

Adams was carted off the field in the second quarter of Seattle’s season opening 17-16 victory over the Denver Broncos after he was hurt while blitzing former teammate Russell Wilson.

“Yeah, he’s hurt,” Carroll told Seattle Sports 710-AM. “He hurt his knee and he’s going to have to get some work on that. I don’t know the extent of it yet, but I know it’s serious. It just breaks your heart. He loves the game so much. We’re going to miss him so much.”

Adams limped off the field in obvious pain, heavily favoring his left leg, after delivering pressure and a hit on Wilson that helped force a third-down incompletion. After being examined in the medical tent, he was helped onto an injury cart. Adams was visibly upset, at one point appearing to burst out in frustration, as he was driven into the locker room.

Carroll referred to it postgame as a “serious” injury to Adams’ quadriceps tendon, which attaches the quad muscle to the top of the kneecap.

“The fact that he is such a heartthrob about the game of football, he loves playing and he just can’t deal with it right now about ‘how could this keep happening?'” Carroll said on his radio show. “It was good he had his mom and dad in the locker room really during the game when he was in there to kind of help him through it and all that, but it was really tough. So I hope everybody sends the love to him.”

Adams had three tackles and defended a pass before his injury. Josh Jones replaced him for the rest of the game. Seattle also has Ryan Neal as a safety option. Neal made four starts in 2020 while Adams was sidelined by a groin injury.

Adams missed only two games over his first three seasons with the New York Jets but then missed nine games over his first two seasons with the Seahawks — four in 2020 and the final five last year after he suffered another torn shoulder labrum that required surgery. Adams missed time early in training camp this summer after rebreaking the middle finger on his left hand, another injury he has dealt with in the past. He had finger surgeries in each of the past two offseasons.

Adams and the Seahawks were hoping that Seattle’s new defense — with its emphasis on split-safety looks — would put him in position for a bounce-back. During his stellar debut season in Seattle in 2020, Adams set the NFL record for a defensive back with 9.5 sacks, earning him his third straight Pro Bowl nod. But then was held without a sack in 12 games last year before his season-ending shoulder injury.

Speaking last week for the first time since his latest finger injury, Adams said Seattle’s new defense puts him “in position to make plays.” “I’m back in my element, man,” he said. “I feel like I’m back playing defense.”

The Seahawks acquired Adams from the Jets in 2020 for a package that included first-round picks in 2021 and 2022. They signed him to a four-year, $70 million extension last summer that made him the NFL’s highest-paid safety.

Carroll said Adams’ injury was the only significant one Seattle suffered Monday night. He expects rookie running back Ken Walker III to return this week. The Seahawks’ second-round pick hasn’t practiced since he had a hernia procedure in mid-August.