FALLING IN THEIR LAP

Jets land LSU safety Adams at NO.6 Gang Green shocked at availability

Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan loves to talk about taking the “best player available” in the NFL draft. On Thursday night, he might have landed the best overall player.

The Jets selected LSU safety Jamal Adams with the No. 6 overall pick, grabbing a player many draft pundits had rated No. 2 behind Myles Garrett, and a few even had rated above Garrett.

“I’m versatile,” an emotional Adams told the NFL Network moments after he was picked. “But not only that, I’m a great person off the field. I’m not going to cause any harm to the Jets organization. We going to get this thing rolling, and we’re going to get back to that Super Bowl.”

That Adams was available at No. 6 was a stunner. Most mock drafts had him going second or third overall. It is the second time in three years that a toprated prospect fell into their laps. Leonard Williams was considered the No. 1 overall player in 2015 and the Jets took him sixth.

“They were definitely saying if I slip to six, there were no questions asked, they’re coming to get me,” Adams said in a conference call with reporters. “They kept their word and they delivered.”

It became clear Adams might be there for the Jets when the Bears traded up to get quarterback Mitchell Trubisky at No. 2 and then the 49ers took Solomon Thomas.

The Jets were so positive Adams would be selected ahead of their pick that during his visit with the team this month, one of their staff members joked, “Why are you here?” believing Adams would be long gone.

“We felt very fortunate that Adams fell us to at that spot,” Maccagnan said. “Obviously, we feel he’s a very good player and feel he’s going to be a great addition to the Jets not only as a player on the field but kind of what he brings from an intangible standpoint off the field. We did a lot of research on a lot of these players and Jamal really stood out in that area. We very good about adding player to our organization.”

This could be bad news for Calvin Pryor, a similar player the Jets selected in the first round of the 2014 draft. His days now appear numbered with the team, which has not picked up his fifth-year option for 2018 yet. It seemed like the team was waiting to see if it drafted a safety. Now that the Jets did, Pryor could be in his final year with Gang Green.

Adams, 21, is the son of George Adams, who played for the Giants from 1985-89. The two made a bet years ago about where Jamal would be taken in the draft. If he went higher than 19th, where George was taken by the Giants in 1985, the father would owe the son an amount that has been reported anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000.

“He’s definitely not going to pay,” Adams said Thursday. “We had a bet that if I go higher, he has to pay me. It didn’t work out like that. I’ll let him continue to pay for the dinner tab.”

His father’s time with the Giants is not Adams’ only tie to the area. He said his mother is from Yonkers and his sister is from New Jersey. “I’m a city guy,” Adams said. As a junior last year, Adams had 76 tackles, four pass breakups, one interception, 7.5 tackles for a loss and one sack. Adams is thought of as more of a box safety, but his coverage skills are good enough for him to play some free safety.

He ran a 4.56 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, which some thought was slow. But he was clocked from 4.3 to 4.4 at his pro day.

The Jets seem as thrilled with the person Adams will be off the field as the one he will be on it.

“We knew he was an alpha dog coming in because we knew that was how he played at LSU and those are all his intangibles,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “With the culture we’re trying to create, I think he’s perfect for our building and the things he brings to the table.”