Don’t ask Jamal Adams about his broken, repaired and broken again finger.

Not if you are seeking a pleasant, expansive conversation with the Seahawks’ $70 million safety.

“Nah, man, I’m good. Been playing with it for too long. Been playing with it for three years,” Adams said Thursday.

As he talked, he struggled to get the arm hole of long-sleeve, dry-weave shirt on over his gloved left hand.

“It ain’t awkward. It’s what I’ve got to do,” he said.

“It’s part of the game.”

Adams, 26 and entering his third Seahawks season, had surgery last winter to repair torn labrum in his shoulder. He had the broken middle finger and mangled ring finger on his left hand fused. This spring showed he couldn’t straighten those fingers that were in a semi-permanent claw shape.

He had to leave training camp in late July after he broke the fused middle finger in the first practice of camp. A specialist in Dallas examined it. The doctor determined Adams could play this season with padding and protective gear over the re-broken finger, and that surgery was not necessary.

“I didn’t have surgery again. I’m here. I’m ready to go,” he said. “So, I broke it again, broke my fusion. It is what it is.”

But the changes coach Pete Carroll, new coordinator Clint Hurtt plus new defensive-backs coaches Sean Desai and Karl Scott have made to Seattle’s defense for the ‘22 season opener Monday night against Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos? Adams is happy to talk about that.

“I’m just back in my element, man,” he said at his locker before practice Thursday. “I feel like I’m back playing defense, you know what I mean?”

How so, exactly?

“By putting me in position to make plays.”

That’s where he was in 2020. In his debut season with the Seahawks after they traded two first-round draft choices and veteran starter Bradley McDougald to the New York Jets to get him that summer, Adams set an NFL record for defensive backs with 9-1/2 sacks. That Seahawks 4-3 defense under Carroll and coordinator Ken Norton Jr. had Adams often playing close to the line of scrimmage. He was like an extra, attacking linebacker more than a safety.

It was a high-risk, high-reward approach. Adams got the sacks — but not every time opposing quarterbacks threw the ball. For much of the rest of the time in 2020, Seattle was allowing more yards passing and more points than any defense in the league.

Last season, Carroll adjusted. He had Norton play Adams more back deep in two-high-safety coverage with Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs. The idea was to reduce the number of huge pass plays the defense allowed.

That happened, but at the expense of lacking pressure on quarterbacks. The 2021 Seahawks produced just 18 takeaways. It was their fewest turnovers over a full season in team history. Seattle finished 31st in the NFL in total defense, went 7-10 and missed the playoffs for the second time in 10 years.

Adams went from blitzing 98 times in 2020 to less than half that, 44 times, last season. He had zero sacks in 2021. His pressures on quarterbacks went from 26 to six. Like 2020, he was limited to 12 games because of his shoulder and finger injuries.

New for Jamal Adams in 2022

This season, Hurtt, Desai and Scott have installed more 3-4 schemes with varied coverages, blitzes and alignments. The coaches intend to keep offensive coordinators and quarterbacks guessing where Adams and other defensive backs are on a given snap.

“The objective is to make the quarterback have to work pre-snap and post-snap. All the time,” Hurtt said. “Whether that’s with Jamal or the other guys on defense, and work on disguises and be multiple.”

The Seahawks extensively practiced with three safeties as a new defense in training camp. Josh Jones emerged in the injury absence of 2021 extra safety Ryan Neal as a third starting safety with Adams and Diggs.

Using three safeties would free Adams to play nearer the line of scrimmage to pass rush more again, but while still retaining two-deep safety coverage and versatility to move the defensive backs around depending on match-ups with opposing wide receivers.

Hurtt intends to feature Adams in what he does best. The coordinator doesn’t get the criticism from outside that Adams is a liability in coverage or to the Seahawks defense.

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The guy’s a hell of a football player. He’s dynamic in the way he goes about his business, and his skill set,” Hurtt said. “His ability in the box, pressuring, and he is good in coverage — contrary to popular belief. ...

“I don’t understand where some of that stuff comes from. I think he’s a hell of a player. His teammates think he’s a hell of a player. And I’m happy as hell we’ve got him.”

That’s why Adams is far more enthusiastic talking about his new defense than his re-broken finger.

“Man, I’m excited, man. I think we have a lot of talent, a lot of guys who can make a lot of plays,” he said.

“And I think we are well-coached.”