Jets safety Tony Adams arriving ahead of schedule, making play at starting job
Tony Adams said he can't wait for friends and family to see him in a different light. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Tony Adams needed every preseason snap he could get to fight his way on to the Jets' roster last summer. All 96 of them on defense and 26 on special teams were required to prove his value and worth to the coaching staff as an undrafted rookie out of Illinois.
But when the first game of this preseason rolled around last week at the Hall of Fame, Adams didn’t take the field a single time. He didn’t even put on equipment or a uniform. He didn’t get a chance to show what he is capable of.
He already had.
Like the rest of the team’s starters and valuable assets, Adams was held from the action in Canton. If the Jets decide to sit their first units again in Saturday’s preseason game against the Panthers in Charlotte — “We’ll see,” Robert Saleh said of that decision — Adams, who is listed atop the depth chart at safety, may once against find himself relegated to the sideline.
In the topsy-turvy logic of the preseason, being benched is often the best positive feedback a player can receive.
“I’ve kind of gotten to the point where I’m playing a lot better now,” Adams said of his jump in 12 months, “so my coaches, I guess, didn’t think I needed to play. That’s a compliment to how I’ve been playing, how I’ve been feeding off my teammates and how I’m understanding the defense. It’s all a blessing.”
There was little to suggest Adams, who played just 118 regular-season defensive snaps as a rookie with a mere 17 tackles, would ascend to a potential starting job as the Jets began plotting this year’s roster. They did not re-sign 2022 starter Lamarcus Joyner as a free agent, added veteran Chuck Clark before he tore his ACL in the spring, and many believed Adrian Amos would step into the role.
Adams’ play in camp so far has quickly made him part of the conversations.
And, oh, are the Jets talking about him.
“The number one thing I like is physicality and that man is physical,” linebacker Quincy Williams said Wednesday. “He’s very vocal. It’s a confidence build when you hear that person behind you being real loud with the call. On top of that you turn around and see him making plays. He fits real good in the defense.”
“That’s my dog, man,” cornerback D.J. Reed said Thursday. “He brings that energy but he’s also showing how he’s playing. He definitely motivates me when I see him out there. When he makes a play he’s gonna swag, he’s gonna let you know about it. On top of that he’s gonna be handshake ready. He’s making plays every day.”
In Wedneday's joint practice with the Panthers, it was Adams who sparked the defense with a forced fumble in team drills.
Perhaps more significantly (in some circles), it is Adams who came up with the apparent motto for the entire secondary. He was the one who coined the term “Young and Turnt” that they have embraced, “turnt” meaning excited and energetic. Sauce Gardner picked up on that phrasing and it spread from there.
Adams hasn’t yet locked down the starting job in what could wind up being the best secondary in the NFL.
“He’s been doing a great job,” Saleh said. “He’s fighting. He wants to be a starter. Amos is not making it easy on him either, but he’s showing up. When we talk about representation of style of play, [Adams] embodies all of it, and he’s doing a really nice job.”
What he has done, though, is earn the right to avoid at least some of these preseason games with the rest of the projected starters.
In the NFL in August, that’s the ultimate sign that someone has made it.
Notes & quotes: Rain on Thursday morning canceled the second of two scheduled joint practices with the Panthers, but the Jets were able to hold an hour-and-a-half practice on their own at Wofford College after the bad weather moved through the area … WR Garrett Wilson (ankle) returned to practice. Saleh had said he would do individual drills but he was on the field for team snaps too and looked unencumbered during several full-speed routes and leaping catches … Gardner (quad) did some stretching with the team but no significant drills … Rookie WR Jason Brownlee was tested for a concussion after he took a pop to the head in the joint practice on Wednesday but was cleared to return and worked on Thursday. Brownlee, an undrafted free agent, has shown play-making abilities throughout the summer.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
