Seattle Seahawks release $11m-a-year safety Jamal Adams... three months after he was slammed for mocking NFL reporter's WIFE in bizarre social media exchange

After a lackluster season for his team on the field - coupled with not-quite-tolerable conduct off the field - the Seattle Seahawks have cut ties with safety Jamal Adams.

Adams made $11m last year as part of a four-year, $70.58m contract that he signed back in 2021.

But now, the 28-year-old won't be suiting up for Seattle next season at a cost to the team of about $20.8m in dead cap space.

2024 was set to be the final season in a saga that wasn't as fruitful as the Seahawks hoped when they traded to acquire Adams from the New York Jets in 2020.

That deal saw Adams and a fourth-round pick head to Seattle in exchange for two first-round picks, a third-round pick, and safety Bradley McDougald.

The Seattle Seahawks have pulled the plug on safety Jamal Adams, officially cutting him

One of those two first-round picks turned into a star wide receiver for the Jets: Garrett Wilson. The other first-rounder was swapped with the Minnesota Vikings so New York could move up to get guard Alijah Vera-Tucker.

Adams' tenure in Seattle was defined by injuries and a lack of the production he saw in New York - with the one exception being his first season.

Even then - in a season where he was named a second-team All-Pro player and was given a Pro Bowl nod, he missed significant time due to injury.

In fact, Adams missed games each season due to different ailments he picked up in his time. For 2020, he injured his groin in Week 3 and didn't return until Week 9.

2021 saw Adams tear his labrum in Week 13 and also missed the rest of his season.

The worst of the injuries came in 2022 - where Adams tore a quad tendon in just the first game of the season and missed the rest of it recovering. 

Adams only played in nine games in the 2023 season, not making his debut until October and then missing every game after a Week 14 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Adams spent four seasons in Seattle where he underperformed and was often injured

But in 2023, Adams generated more attention for his off-field antics than his on-field play

But this season, Adams made more headlines off the field than he did on it - thanks to his numerous spats, including with a reporter.

In his first game back from the 2022 injury, Adams was taken out of the game against the Giants due to a concussion. Cameras captured him berating an official on the sidelines.

Just weeks after that Week 4 incident, Adams was seen berating another sideline concussion doctor against the Bengals and made what the NFL called 'inappropriate physical contact'. He was fined $50k by the league. 

Weeks later, Adams hit back at criticism after his poor defense on a game-winning touchdown by the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football.

Connor Hughes, a reporter for SNY who had been following Adams since his days in New York, retweeted the play and captioned it: 'Yikes'.

Adams took the low road and decided the best way to respond to that criticism was to tweet a picture of Hughes and his wife with the caption: 'Yikes' as well as a mocking emoji.

He later deleted the tweet, but not before fans lambasted the safety's terrible judgement. Even still, Adams doubled down on his actions.

'Oh, it's always the athlete crossed the line when he responds,' Adams said in December. 'But at the end of the day, disrespect is disrespect. However you want to take it.

Adams was caught twice berating medical officials who pulled him for suspected concussions 

Adams also posted a photo of Connor Hughes' wife and captioned it 'yikes' before deleting it

Despite deleting that post, Adams doubled-down on his actions and his reasoning behind it

'So I responded. I knew when I did hit that tweet, I wasn't in it to win it. At the end of the day, it was to get him to understand to leave me the hell alone.' 

Adams added, 'When others go low, I go lower. I mean, you can sit there and have regret. But I don’t live that way in my life. We’ve had history, Connor and I…We’ve have never liked each other.

'I’m not here to say if it was fair or not. But at the same time, at the end of the day, it’s been personal with him and I ever since I’ve been with the Jets and even before that, since my rookie year.'