Jamal Adams

Jamal Lee Adams (born October 17, 1995) is an American football strong safety for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU, and was drafted sixth overall in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Jets.

Adams attended Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas. During his final two years, he had 138 tackles and seven interceptions on defense and 20 touchdowns on offense. In his senior year, Hebron finished 8–4 on the season, advancing to the UIL 5A Division II Area final at AT&T Stadium, where they lost 42–21 to Cedar Hill.

Adams was rated by Scout.com as a five star recruit and was ranked among the top ten overall recruits in his class. He committed to Louisiana State University (LSU) to play college football.

Adams played in all 13 games with two starts as a true freshman at LSU in 2014 and had 66 tackles and a sack. As a sophomore, he was a second-team All-Southeastern Conference selection as a safety by the Associated Press (AP) and SEC coaches. As a junior, Adams was named to the AP All-SEC first team.

On January 6, 2017, Adams announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

College statistics

Coming out of college, Adams was invited to the NFL Combine and performed all the required drills. On May 4, 2017, Adams attended LSU's pro day and opted to run the 40-yard dash (4.40s), 20-yard dash (2.57s), and 10-yard dash (1.58s) and was able to improve on his combine numbers. He was projected to be a first round pick by the majority of analysts and scouts. Sports Illustrated, DraftScout.com, Pro Football Focus, and ESPN ranked Adams the top safety in the draft.

The New York Jets selected Adams with the sixth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the first defensive back selected in 2017.

2017

On July 20, 2017, the Jets signed Adams to a fully guaranteed four-year, $22.25 million contract that included a $14.32 million signing bonus.

Adams entered training camp competing against Calvin Pryor and fellow rookie Marcus Maye for a role as a starting safety. Head coach Todd Bowles named Adams the starting strong safety to begin the regular season, alongside free safety Maye.

Adams made his professional regular season debut and first career start in the Jets season-opener versus the Buffalo Bills and recorded five combined tackles and deflected a pass in a 21–12 loss. Adams made his first career tackle on running back Mike Tolbert after his 13-yard run on the Bills' first drive. On September 24, Adams recorded two solo tackles, broke up a pass, and made his first career sack on quarterback Jay Cutler during a 20–6 win against the Miami Dolphins. In Week 17, he collected a season-high ten combined tackles (three solo) and a pass deflection in the Jets' 26–6 loss to the New England Patriots. Adams finished his rookie season in 2017 with 83 combined tackles (63 solo), six pass deflections, and two sacks in 16 games and 16 starts.

2018

Adams was named a captain on the Jets' roster for the 2018 season. He got his first career interception off of Matt Cassel at the Jets' season opener versus the Detroit Lions. The Jets ultimately won the game 48–17. Adams finished his second season with 115 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles with 1 recovered fumble, and 1 interception and started all 16 games.

On December 18, Adams was named a Pro Bowl selection for the first time in his career. Adams was named Defensive MVP of the game. Adams became notorious after an incident where he tackled the New England Patriots mascot at a 2019 Pro Bowl practice. This was due to the fierce rivalry of the Jets and Patriots. Adams apologized and let the Patriots mascot tackle him back.

Adams was also named Second-team AP All-Pro during this season. On December 28, Adams was named Curtis Martin Team MVP.

2019

Before the 2019 season, Adams was ranked at 37th place as part of the NFL Top 100 2019 list.

On September 18, 2019, Adams was fined $21,000 for a hit he made on Baker Mayfield on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns in Week 2. In Week 3 versus the New England Patriots, Adams recorded a 61-yard pick six off rookie quarterback Jarrett Stidham in the 30–14 loss. This was Adams' first interception of the season and his first career pick six. On October 10, Adams had his previous fine rescinded after winning an appeal. In Week 10 against the New York Giants, Adams recorded a team-high nine tackles and sacked Daniel Jones twice, one of which was a strip sack that he forced and returned for a 25-yard touchdown, as the Jets won 34–27 win. He was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance. During Week 11 versus the Washington Redskins, Adams finished with a career high three sacks as the Jets won 34–17. During a game versus the Cincinnati Bengals, Adams suffered an ankle injury at the start of the game. He played the entire game and had to miss the next two weeks due to this injury. He came back from his injury in Week 16 against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Jets' 16–10 win. At the end of the season, he was named to his second consecutive Pro Bowl and was honored with his first career First-Team AP selection. Adams also earned his second Curtis Martin Team MVP for the second straight year.

2020

On April 27, 2020, the Jets picked up the fifth-year option on Adams' contract.

Regular season

His father, running back George Adams, played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1985 to 1991.