Secondary to none
Adams says DBs are as good as any group in NFL
They aren’t wearing pads yet. The hitting hasn’t begun. Spring football is a lot like exhibition baseball — you take it with several grains of salt.
But Jamal Adams — the bigtalking, hard-hitting young safety — already has seen enough to make a bold early proclamation.
After retaining steady cornerback Morris Claiborne, adding No. 1-caliber cornerback Trumaine Johnson and recently nabbing veteran safety J.J. Wilcox, Adams said the Jets’ secondary should not take a backseat to anyone.
“I take us over anybody,” Adams told The Post on Tuesday at the start of the threeday mandatory minicamp. “I believe in us, man, simple as that. I believe in us in that room. We work hard.
“Everybody works hard in the National Football League, but I think that we have something special about this group.”
The secondary made strides last year despite a nonexistent pass rush and should be markedly improved this year. Adams and Marcus Maye have a year of experience under their belts after solid rookie seasons, with Johnson around Claiborne won’t have to shadow opposing top receivers as he did last year, Buster Skrine won’t have to worry about moving out of the slot, and Wilcox was added recently to give depth to the safety position.
“It’s outstanding, man,” Adams said. “Playmakers. We’re just adding to the New Jack City crew, so we’re excited. Just to have those guys a part of us, just to go out there and compete, it just adds more energy to the defense.”
He isn’t the only one impressed by the unit. So is wide receiver Quincy Enunwa.
“I’m encouraged,” he said. “They can be really good.”
“We’ll do the same things we did last year. It’s just now we have guys that have been seasoned and played,” defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson said. “They’ll be ahead of plays. They’ll be ahead of shifts.”
Johnson is the addition that turned heads in the offseason, a true No. 1 cornerback capable of locking down one side of the field. Signed to a fiveyear, $72.5 million contract, the former Ram should make life easier for everyone. He could free up Maye and Adams to blitz more, and give Claiborne the benefit of dealing with No. 2 receivers rather than No. 1s. The 6-foot-2 Johnson had 14 pass breakups a year ago, along with two interceptions and 65 tackles, and allowed just one touchdown in 932 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
“He’s a really smart player,” Enunwa said.
Then there is the 27-yearold Wilcox, who originally was slated to sign with the 49ers before opting to come east and play with the Jets. He has played in at least 12 games each of his five seasons in the NFL. Like Johnson, the former Cowboy and Steeler brings plenty of experience which should be beneficial to Maye and Adams.
“Both true professionals,” coach Todd Bowles said of the newcomers. “Blending in with the guys, fitting in well with the group, can [only] help us.”
Predictably, Bowles tempered enthusiasm about the group, pointing to the date on the calendar and the need to jell. Talent doesn’t always equate to production. Johnson and Wilcox have to get used to their new teammates. Maye isn’t practicing — following offseason arthroscopic ankle surgery, though on Tuesday he talked about the benefit of learning from the sidelines — and neither is Claiborne (bruised left hand).
“We like the players we have. We liked the players we had on the team last year,” Bowles said. “Talent is one thing, blending them in is a whole different animal. We have to make sure they blend the right away and go from there.”
Wilson said the best secondary he ever has coached was the Rams’ unit that had Johnson, Janoris Jenkins, Rodney McLeod and Lamarcus Joyner. But that eventually could change.
“This one stands up right next to them,” Wilson said.