Jets Surprisingly Bench 25-Year-Old After Blowout Loss: Insider

Heavy on Jets

Changes are coming to the New York Jets heading into Week 11.

ESPN’s Rich Cimini revealed in a column posted on Wednesday, November 13 that the team is benching starting safety Tony Adams.

“[Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich] also made a change in the defensive lineup, benching safety Tony Adams this week, a source said. It’s a surprising move, considering Adams — a two-year starter — is the Jets’ third-leading tackler,” Cimini said.

How the Mighty Have Fallen for the Jets

Adams started from humble beginnings as an undrafted free agent.

He didn’t hear his name called during the 2022 NFL draft but signed with the Jets shortly after. Adams impressed the coaching staff and secured a spot on the 53-man roster as a rookie.

Following final roster cuts former head coach Robert Saleh sounded off on his true feelings for Adams.

“Big credit to TA. Undrafted [and] just did a really good job every single day trying to find ways to get better and better. He has a bright future ahead of him. We would have been sick if we lost him,” Saleh explained back in late August of 2022.

If the Jets would have cut Adams, he would have been subject to waivers. The other 31 NFL teams would have had a chance to claim him to their active roster. If he went unclaimed the Jets could have tried to bring him back on the practice squad.

Gang Green feared losing him so they kept him on the 53-man roster. In his rookie season, he appeared in 11 games and made one start playing mostly in a reserve role.

A year later Saleh was speaking during training camp and explained what makes Adams so special.

“I guess the cat is coming out of the bag a little bit,” Saleh admitted when asked about Adams in late July of 2023. “An undrafted free agent that unseated a bunch of guys we all thought were going to make the team. He made it impossible for us to cut him.”

In 2023 he started in 15 games. This season he started in all eight games that he was healthy for. Now he’s headed toward the bench.

Reading the Tea Leaves

The benching is surprising because this entire team fell in love with Adams from top to bottom. He made the roster as an undrafted free agent and the following offseason he was treated like an established veteran whose roster spot was an assumed lock.

While a specific reason wasn’t listed by Cimini for Adams’ benching – it isn’t difficult to connect the dots.

The Jets got embarrassed by the Cardinals in Week 10 and the most glaring issue from that game was missed tackles. All in all, the Jets missed 20 in the game which was tied for the most in any single NFL game this year.

In Cimini’s column, the paragraph before he revealed that Adams was getting benched he went into detail about the team’s tackling issues.

“Ulbrich is taking a back-to-basics approach this week, calling for full-pads practices to improve the Jets’ shoddy tackling. They missed 20 tackles against the Cardinals, according to Next Gen Stats. He conducted a tackling presentation for the entire team on Wednesday, not just the defense,” Cimini said.

This benching comes at an interesting time. Adams, 25, is scheduled to be a restricted free agent next offseason. The Jets will have to determine if they will tender Adams this offseason.

They have three choices if they want to tender Adams: first round, second round, or right of first refusal.

Over The Cap has projections for what those tenders will be worth in 2025: first round ($7.27 million), second round ($5.21 million), and right of first refusal ($3.81 million).