Noticeably bigger Jamal Adams, Jordyn Brooks rejoin Seahawks. But when will they play?

The gang that will — or will fail to — lead the turnaround of the Seahawks defense was back together again.

Now, when will they be back on the field together? When will they all be able to change what happened to Seattle on that side of the ball in the 2022 season?

Jamal Adams and Jordyn Brooks talked and laughed with captains Bobby Wagner and Quandre Diggs on the sideline at Seahawks minicamp Tuesday. Adams and Brooks hugged and slapped hands with coaches and staffers.

“I mean, this week is dope, you feel me? Because now, everybody’s here,” said Diggs, Seattle’s Pro Bowl safety.

Adams and Brooks did not practice on the first day of Seattle’s three-day, mandatory minicamp. The $70 million safety and the record-setting linebacker might not be ready for the start of training camp in late July, either. Yet that’s what both are shooting for.

Adams appeared bigger Tuesday, particularly in his upper body. He and Brooks were away from the team’s voluntary offseason workouts in April and May. They’d been in Texas rehabilitating from major injuries.

Adams had a season-ending torn quadriceps tendon and knee injury in the 2022 opener. He got that blitzing Russell Wilson in the Seahawks’ win over Denver last September. Brooks tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee Jan. 1 in Seattle’s victory over the New York Jets.

Coach Pete Carroll has said Adams and Brooks are both aiming to be ready for the start of the coming season. That’s Sept. 10 when Seattle hosts its division rivals the Los Angeles Rams.

The way Brooks jogged smoothly — albeit slowly — while following Wagner across the field to watch the start of a linebacker drill early in Tuesday’s practice was a good sign for him. And for the Seahawks defense. It was 30th in the NFL against the run last season.

Diggs, Wagner, Carroll, defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt and the Seahawks are OK with whatever timeline Adams and Brooks need to get back.

This time last year, Diggs was rehabbing from a broken fibula and dislocated ankle.

“Everybody’s running their own race,” Diggs said. “I know what ‘Mal and JB are going through with injuries and rehabbing and stuff like that. I talk to those guys.”

Carroll said three weeks ago the Seahawks had received positive results on latest medical tests for Adams and Brooks. They are two of the few proven players in the middle of a defense Carroll is overhauling for 2023.

“They’re doing well. They’re making good progress,” Carroll said May 18 during offseason practices. “There’s no rush for them to be here because they can’t do the work yet. And they’re in really good set-ups where they are. So, they’re both staying pretty connected out there.”

Last month, Adams posted on his social-media accounts videos of him running on a treadmill, with a reference to “being slept on” by doubters.

His message concluded with: “Keep working.”

Will that work get Adams, who has had his last two Seahawks seasons cut short by injury, on the field by the start of training camp the last week of July?

When will Jamal Adams play again?

Seahawks general manager John Schneider talked about Adams on The Rich Eisen Show May 11.

“The company answer is that we don’t know exactly (the) timeline,” Schneider said of Adams’ return. “He’s gotta keep progressing here.”

The GM called Adams’ quad-tendon tear a “very bad injury.”

“Very unfortunate for Jamal, for our team last year, really,” Schneider said on Eisen’s show. “He was crushing it in the first half of that Denver game last year. You could see the intensity and you could see the difference-maker that he truly is early in that game. We really missed him throughout the season.

“He’s working his tail off. We want to be really careful with this. It’s been two years in a row now that he’s been banged up. ...We want to be really careful with his progression.

“Training camp? I’m just not sure.”

Carroll and Schneider signed back Wagner, the six-time All-Pro middle linebacker, in March after his year away. The team hopes to pair Brooks, Wagner’s replacement inside last season, with Wagner in 2023. The Seahawks signed former Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Devin Bush in March. Bush is insurance in case Brooks remains sidelined into this season.

Bush and Wagner have been the starting inside linebackers in offseason workouts.

Carroll and Hurtt are planning to have Adams in more of a roving role as a blitzer closer to the line of scrimmage, like he was in 2020 when he set an NFL record for defensive backs with 9-1/2 sacks for Seattle. In 2021, when Carroll didn’t trust his cornerbacks to play effective press coverage, he had Adams back with Diggs more in two-deep safety coverage. Offenses exploited Adams in pass coverage.

The Seahawks signed Julian Love, the New York Giants captain last season, to play more three-safety defenses with Diggs and Adams in 2023. Love’s ability and experience playing multiple positions inside and outside in the secondary give Seattle the ability to free Adams back to attacking the line of scrimmage.

All that is if Adams can come back from an injury that is historically tricky to recover from to full effectiveness.

“Having ‘Mal back, it’s been awesome. You guys know our relationship. It’s different when 33’s out there,” Diggs said. “It’s just the energy is a contagious thing that he brings.

“It’s one of those things that I can’t wait until he’s out there playing playing. It’s going to be fun.

“I know he has big goals, which he should. I’m excited to line up next to him and go back to work.”

Quandre Diggs’ cautionary words

Diggs said Tuesday he wasn’t fully recovered and back to full effectiveness from his major injuries late last fall into winter. He, like Brooks, got hurt in a January regular-season game.

“It definitely was middle to end of the season that I honestly felt like I could go out and make the plays that I needed to make, and that I could trust that ankle that I could put it in the ground,” Diggs said. “Just go and explode.”

Diggs’ words suggest if Adams and Brooks do get back for the start of this Seahawks season, it’s going to be longer than that before they can have the impact they expect — the impact this remodeled defense needs.

“Just the breaks. As a post safety, you need your breaks. You need to be able to trust your ankle, trust your feet. I don’t think I was at that point,” Diggs said. “As much as I worked, I never...

“I mean, I literally had a month of offseason to get ready for the full season. It was kind of rushed, so I didn’t get to do the drills and things I normally do in the offseason.”