Silver And Black Pride
The Las Vegas Raiders are looking for answers at linebacker, hence signing Jamal Adams and converting him to the position at the beginning of training camp. Granted, playing in the box isn’t too foreign for the former strong safety. But Thursday night’s preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks—Adams’ former team—was his debut as a full-time backer, and it went about as well as can be.
Adams only played 15 snaps, but he managed to earn an 89.8 grade from Pro Football Focus, which is the sixth-highest mark of any linebacker over the weekend (minimum 15 snaps). A big reason is that he was a standout against the run, earning an 82.8 grade in that department (second-highest), while collecting four ‘defensive stops’ (tied for fifth-most).
So, let’s flip on the tape and dive deeper into the free-agent addition’s performance.
Adams only rushed the passer one time in Seattle, but he managed to get a pressure out of it.
The Raiders run a three-deep, three-under fire zone where he blitzes off the edge here. Against a play-action fake to the offense’s right, that puts Adams one-on-one with the running back. He does a good job of selling the rush up the field or vertically, which gets the running back to move and open his hips a bit, creating an inside rushing lane.
From there, the backer doesn’t have the cleanest pass-rush move, but he uses his change-of-direction skills well to pivot inside and win across the running back’s face. As a result, Drew Lock is flushed out of the pocket away from where the receivers’ routes are taking them, giving Lock no choice but to scramble for a short gain. That keeps the offense behind the sticks in a second-and-long situation.
Moving on to where the defensive back stood out the most on Thursday night, against the run. One of the concerns about his transition to the second level is his ability to take on blocks. However, he does a great job of that in the play above.
Seattle runs outside zone out of 22 personnel with the fullback leading the way to the wide side of the field. That puts Adams on the backside of the play. Post-snap, he recognizes the play design and flows with he offensive line before taking on the right guard’s block. At the point of attack, Adams gets physical and uses his hands, allowing him to escape the block and chase down the running back for a short gain.
Reps like these are good to see and will ease concerns if he can continue to string them together.
The Seahawks run a similar play in the clip above; it’s just inside zone instead of outside zone. Also, Adams is lined up as the MIKE linebacker instead of on the backside this time.
Nose tackle JJ Pegues has a quality rep, getting penetration to help influence the running back to cut backside. Meanwhile, the center works up to Adams on the second level. It looks like Adams...
