Jamal Adams. vs. New York Jets: The rare instance featuring two correct sides

Jamal Adams versus the New York Jets is that rare contract negotiation battle that features two correct opposing arguments. In one corner is the challenger, the league's best safety who flies around all parts of the field to make a tackle, swat away a pass or steal the bread right out of Daniel Jones' rookie hands. He is fearless in his approach, for he feels many of his colleagues depend on such a mindset. The players association, if you will, counts on at least a fight. In the other corner is the undefeated champion, one of the 32 franchises that holds all the cards. Knowing the system, to dish out dollars to any player entering just the fourth year of his rookie deal (post-Sam Bradford class) would be a major error in value. This champion remains undefeated purely due to the system featuring a hard salary cap not for the faint of heart. On Friday, Jamal Adams versus the New York Jets just plowed through another chapter in its already-long story, and what's interesting about this case study is that both sides own a correct stance on the topic. It's a rarity for the court of public opinion to reach a stalemate in addition to the two sides at the negotiating table, but that's what we seemingly have at the moment. Adams, 24, wants to get that money immediately. There are no two ways about that fact. Adams' $6.07 million cap hit a year ago ranked him 14th in the league at his position. Considering his first-team All-Pro status, 14th just doesn't cut it. His $7.17 million hit heading into 2020 puts him in the 13th position, behind guys like Landon Collins, Kareem Jackson and Adrian Amos. The man is simply the best safety in the league and deserves that payday. (Yes, he's that good.) The days of consistent 2-deep dominant defenses of the 1980s are long gone. Instead of deploying two safeties who mirror one another on the backend in a lot of ways, the difference between free and strong safety has never been more pronounced. Strong safety has lifted itself from the back of the pack to the forefront in terms of positional importance in the NFL. Only a stud, do-it-all strong safety can successfully shut down offensive mismatches that feature athletic tight ends and out-of-the-backfield running backs. Per the new rules, it's strong safety or bust when thinking about so many defensive concepts. It's just a shame the best strong safety in this league holds no power. The Jets case is just as intriguing and proper. A grand total of 15 of 191 first-rounders drafted from 2012-2016 have signed extensions prior to the fourth year of his rookie deal. That stat alone is enough to award the match to the organization. After all, value is the name of this game. What's the challenger to do? Will he hold out during camp? Would he dare miss regular-season action? Remember, Adams is a football player, a guy who loves to play the game. The mere fact his only recourse is to hold back his services completely contrasts with what he loves to do as a human on this Earth. A more messed up situation is tough to find. Joe Douglas knows Adams is up against a tough fight; he fully grasps the situation. It's why wanting to wait until 2021 to sign him longterm is the appropriate salary cap move in the name of value. And even then (with a fifth year already on the books), the organization isn't under the gun. After that fourth year is when the pressure really mounts, though. Star players in Adams' mold start to win the public's vote. But not now, not after year No. 3 when the Super Bowl MVP (Patrick Mahomes) is staring down the very same situation and nobody's heard a peep out of him. In the end, this one may represent a necessary battle for the right to move forward. As long as Adams truly wants to be in New Jersey, it should work out when it's all said and done. He just needs to battle through one more season in which he's due to earn around $3.5 million. An average player would be wrong 100 percent of the time when demanding an extension after the third year. It's the system these players signed up for the moment they bro-hugged Roger Goodell on the grand stage (save for the 2020 virtual version). In this case, Jamal Adams ain't any ordinary average football player. The New York Jets don't want to trade the man. If they did, he would have been gone on or prior to 2020 draft day. But if Jamal Adams doesn't budge from his extension demands prior to the start of the season, I can absolutely see Joe Douglas pulling the trigger due to the fact it doesn't clash with his tried and tested team-building principles. Value is the name of the game and no one piece is bigger than the entire puzzle. Not in this game, anyway (see the NBA for an opposing front office approach). Until a resolution comes, the battle---one that usually features a clear public favorite---moves forward. Generally, there's always a bad guy in these situations. No aspiring baller ever once hung a Jerry Krause poster on his or her wall. Here, strangely enough, both sides own a legit claim to the appropriate answer.