Jamal Adams' 'Serious' Knee Injury Will Require Surgery, Seahawks' Pete Carroll Says

The Seattle Seahawks will be without one of their key defensive players for the foreseeable future.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday that Adams will need surgery after suffering a significant knee injury in Monday night's season opener against the Denver Broncos.

"Yeah, he's hurt," Carroll told Seattle Sports 710-AM (h/t ESPN's Brady Henderson). "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."

Adams was carted off in the second quarter of Seattle's 17-16 victory after he was injured while blitzing Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, his former Seahawks teammate. Adams limped off the field and was visibly favoring his left leg. He was examined in the medical tent before he was helped onto the cart and driven into the locker room.

"It just breaks your heart," Carroll said. "He loves the game so much. We're going to miss him so much."

After missing just two games in his first three NFL seasons while he was with the New York Jets, Adams has been bitten by the injury bug in recent years. He missed four games in 2020 with a groin injury and then sat out the final five games of last season due to a torn labrum in his shoulder that required surgery.

Adams also was forced to miss time early in training camp this year because of a broken finger. He's underwent finger surgeries in each of the last two offseasons.

This latest setback is especially disappointing for Adams, who was hoping to have a bounce-back performance this season. In his debut season for Seattle in 2020, he was selected to his third straight Pro Bowl after setting an NFL record for a defensive back with 9.5 sacks. However, he was held without a sack in 12 games in 2021 before his season came to an end early.

"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. "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."