NY Jets: What the Jamal Adams trade means for Marcus Maye

NY Jets’ safety Marcus Maye can prove his worth without Jamal Adams by his side.

Jamal Adams‘ departure means much more to NY Jets‘ safety Marcus Maye than anybody else. Adams and Maye, both drafted in the 2017 class, have grown and developed alongside each other ever since putting on the green and white for the first time.

Fast forward three years, Adams is gone, leaving Maye on a defense that ranked highly against the run and mediocre against the pass in 2019. While Adams’ absence will likely hurt the backbone of the defense, Maye should be able to prove why he was drafted early in the second round.

The tandem of Maye and Adams proved sturdy for a defense that’s been undervalued around the league for quite some time.

Now with Adams out of the building, Maye has the ability to form relationships with newly acquired safety Bradley McDougald and rookie third-rounder Ashtyn Davis.

It’ll be interesting to see how this unit gels over the next couple of months as the pandemic has prohibited any in-person interaction between players since last season.

With training camp set to get underway, this will be a great time for this unit to start building chemistry as we near the 2020 season. Trust me, it’ll be strange watching a defense that doesn’t include the forceful Jamal Adams.

But, with the versatility added by McDougald, the experience provided by Maye, and the intelligence and willingness to learn for Davis, this unit should come along just fine as the pieces fall into place.

The NY Jets should re-sign Marcus Maye with the departure of Jamal Adams.

Cap space may become an issue for many teams as the NFL is preparing to take a sizable dip of revenue following the 2020-21 season.

This shouldn’t affect the Jets as much as it will other teams due to the fact that general manager Joe Douglas had played his cards right in free agency, not wildly overpaying for mediocrity.

Nevertheless, this has no reason to stop the Jets from re-signing Maye if everything goes well this upcoming season.

With the departure of Adams, and the cap hit that the team would’ve taken if they had chosen to pay him the reported $20 million he was seeking, the Jets should be in a good spot to offer Maye a second contract come that time.

It’s going to be exciting to see how Marcus Maye can adjust to not having the other playmaking safety by his side.

But, personally, I think he’ll do even better.