49ers: Why the team shouldn’t trade for Jamal Adams

The San Francisco 49ers shouldn’t want to trade for the New York Jets All-Pro safety, Jamal Adams.

As reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rappoport last Thursday, New York Jets All-Pro safety, Jamal Adams has requested a trade. Of the seven teams that Adams would welcome a trade to, the San Francisco 49ers are right at the top of that list.

With two years left on his rookie contract, costing them roughly $13.4 million during this period ($3.5 million 2020, $9.9 million fifth-year option), the Jets have remained tentative in getting a deal done — one that Adams has wanted to sign off on for a while, certainly before this upcoming season starts.

With both teams at a standstill, the likelihood of them ever reaching an agreement is questionable.

Why the 49ers would want to trade for Jamal Adams

The attractiveness of a player like Adams is undeniable, he’s a hard-hitting (ask the New England Patriots mascot) safety who can play both inside the box and in coverage.

Making the Pro Bowl twice in the first three years of his career, Adams’ awareness and passion leap off the screen, being one of the very few defensive backs in the NFL that you know who they are just by watching them run around the field.

Adams also seems like a good ‘football’ fit too as he’s a dynamic safety that often hunts for the big play — combine this with a 49ers’ front-seven that creates nightmares for the opposition, allowing the DB’s to flourish, you’ve got a recipe for success.

Adams pointed to this earlier in the year, commenting on how being a back in the 49ers would be ‘a DB’s dream,’ prompting 49ers veteran cornerback Richard Sherman to chime in.

As mentioned prior, Adams is also currently on the final two years of his rookie deal, costing the team only around $13.4 million. For a player of his caliber, and for that cheap, it seems like a no brainer — right?

Why the 49ers shouldn’t and won’t trade for Jamal Adams

With all these positives, comes also a plethora of negatives surrounding a potential trade for Adams.

His current rookie deal, the one that right now makes him look like a steal, would, unfortunately, be one of the 49ers pitfalls if they attempted to get a trade done.

Not only when you trade for Adams are you giving away the pieces necessary to make it possible for the Jets to agree, but you best be believing he comes with a pretty new price tag of at least $15 million a year.

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Hoping to become the highest-paid safety in the NFL, currently held by the Chicago Bears’ Eddie Jackson ($14.6 million per year), Jamal Adams’ new deal would put the 49ers at the breaking point of their salary cap for the 2020 season.

Even if you count the money transferred over to the Jets in the deal, the 49ers are yet to sign most of their 2020 NFL Draft picks, so, as much as I love John Lynch, I don’t think even he can get that done.

In win-now mode, the 49ers have certainly placed all their chips out onto the table. A team at the brink of their salary cap, their future will be dominated by draft picks and under the radar (cheap) free-agent signings.

Trading away this future for a player that will demand top-tier positional money goes against everything the 49ers have done up until this point. When it came time to re-sign DeForest Buckner and Emmanuel Sanders — well we know what happened there.

Lastly, the competition for someone like Adams in a market of the seven teams he would ‘welcome’ a trade too would likely be too fierce for John Lynch to settle anything among.

Going head to head with organizations like the Seattle Seahawks, who are likely a game-changer or two away from being a Super Bowl team, and the Dallas Cowboys, who are run by a man who always thinks they’re a game-changer or two away from being a Super Bowl team will be difficult.

This is just another reason why the 49ers likely won’t be able to get anything done.

I don’t know how or when Jamal Adams will be getting traded, but I do know two things for certain — Jamal Adams will not be playing the rest of his contract out with the New York Jets, and you will never see him in a San Francisco 49ers jersey.