The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Adams knows life can change in the blink of an eye, or a tipped pass
No one needs to tell Andrew Adams how tenuous life in the NFL can be. Nobody needs to tell the guy who made a season-defining pass breakup on Aaron Rodgers at the goal line in the closing moments of the NFC Championship, how quickly things can change.
Here Adams was in September of 2016, an undrafted 23-year-old free agent out of UConn, called up from the practice squad and playing in his first game for the Giants. They were down two points to Washington with 11 minutes left when Romeo Okwara blocked a Tress Way punt. The ball went out of bounds at the Washington 18. The fans at MetLife Stadium went crazy … then they went quiet.
Continuing to block down field, his back to the play and unaware of the blocked punt, Adams was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty on a helmet-to-helmet hit. The Giants lost by two. Giants fans lost their minds.
On social media, they were calling for Adams to be waived on the spot. Or worse. His career was hanging by a thread.
“It was crazy,” Adams said. “That was my first real fan experience.” So what did he learn? “I learned about Giants fans,” Adams said, breaking into a laugh Thursday.
Welcome to the Big City, kid.
Three days later, Giants coach Ben McAdoo told him to “flush” what had happened and, because of injuries, Adams started the
next week. He started 13 games and Pro Football Focus gave him the second highest grade among rookie NFL safeties in 2016.
It would be fairy tale stuff to say Adams rose to All-Pro status. Didn’t happen. Although this was the first season he hasn’t started a game or gotten many snaps on defense, we can say he has carved out a nice NFL career. And there was Adams on Sunday in the Tampa Bay defensive backfield as Rodgers took a snap on third-and-goal from the Bucs’ 8-yard line with 2:12 left.
The Bucs were banged up in the defensive backfield last weekend. They still are. Mike Edwards played in place of rookie Antoine Winfield Jr. When Jordan Whitehead went down, Adams stepped in, playing 36 of the 71 Green Bay snaps. He had five tackles, three solo.
On Green Bay’s last offensive
snap, he took care of his own responsibility on the back side of the play. He saw Rodgers step up and roll to the front.
“I saw his favorite receiver No. 17 was coming back to the opposite side,” Adams said. “I thought there’s a chance he’s going to throw back to Davonte Adams. So I picked him up.”
He reached in front of Adams at the goal line. He knocked away the pass. If he doesn’t get a hand in there, Devonta catches it and it could have been Green Bay instead of the Bucs against KC and Patrick Mahomes at Super Bowl LV at Tampa Bay’s Raymond James Stadium.
“Anytime you help your team win,” Adams said, “it definitely feels good.”
The big play led to the most second-guessed one of the season. Packers coach Matt LaFleur decided to go for a field goal with 2:05 left and down eight. He banked on stopping Tom Brady on a final drive and getting the ball back. Tom Brady. Of
course, the Packers never got the ball back.
“Tom is the ultimate leader, the GOAT,” Adams said. “He brings the confidence level that every time we step on the field we can win the game. That is an incredible X factor.”
Adams had been an outstanding baseball player growing up in Georgia, but football was his first love. After looking mostly at FCS schools, he committed to Furman before UConn got involved.
“UConn just coming off their BCS Bowl (Fiesta) and the program was looking good, going up,” Adams, 28, said. “I loved the facilities, a great group of guys. I was in.”
By the time he got on the field, Randy Edsall was out. He pointed to Darrell Perkins and Anthony Poindexter, his position coaches at UConn, as being particularly influential. Yes, they talked technique.
“But they talked about growth and leading and becoming a man, too,” Adams said.
By the time he had walked off the field at the St. Petersburg Bowl, where he had 14 tackles to cap a 103-tackle senior season, Adams was hoping to get drafted by the NFL. He
didn’t.
“For sure, I was disappointed,” he said. “But everything is God’s plan and what’s for you is what’s for you. I definitely wanted to get drafted, but I also knew it wasn’t the end result. I knew I had to keep working.
“Coming out of UConn you already had that tough mentality, the underdog, don’t take anything for granted. But having to compete for a job every year in the NFL, you’re undrafted, it keeps you humble, keeps a chip on that shoulder.”
He started four games for the Giants in 2017, got waived at camp in 2018 and signed as a backup safety to Whitehead with the Bucs. He had one heck of a day in a 24-17 win over Carolina in December 2018. Look it up in the Bucs record book: Most interceptions in a game (3). Ronde Barber, Aqib Talib and Andrew Adams. Good company.
“It was pretty huge, I was reading Cam Newton pretty well that day,” said Adams, who also had three pass deflections. “We really studied him that week and I knew what was coming at me.”
Adams signed with the Lions in 2019, was cut and re-signed with the Bucs. He
ended up starting 11 games last season, making a career high 46 tackles. This season, he was almost entirely a special term performer, only 23 total defensive snaps before Sunday.
“This is my first year not playing that much defense,” Adams said. “It was definitely different. I have a job to do on special teams and I need to do that to the best of my ability, while always being locked in on defense.
“You just have to know anything can happen, just like last game. When it does, you have to perform like a starter.”
Aaron Rodgers can attest to this.
Adams signed a one-year, $1 million deal with Tampa in March. After the season he’ll sit down with his agent to discuss possibilities, but for now all focus is on the Chiefs and the first home game ever for a Super Bowl team.
Dealing with shoulder issues, Whitehead has reportedly not been ruled out of the Super Bowl. Winfield, who suffered an ankle injury in practice last week, has not practiced this week, but according to ESPN’s Diana Russini is expected to play.
“We’ll see as we go, it’s too early to tell (how much
he’ll play),” he said.
Curtailed festivities, a virtual Media Day, a crowd held to 14,000, Adams said what he does know is he doesn’t feel like he’s missing out on anything.
“We’re back at work, it’s straight football,” he said. “Game planning, getting our bodies and minds ready. A good thing being home is you have your routine, in your house or apartment. Massage therapists right there. It’s definitely a comfort level and a familiarity with the stadium and locker room. It flows well.
“Growing up, watching the Super Bowl, just getting to play in it already is unreal.”
Besides, he already visited the NFL Experience when the Super Bowl was in Tampa in January 2001. His cousin, Sam Adams, played for the Baltimore Ravens when they routed the Giants, 34-7, in Super Bowl XXXVII. Andre didn’t get into Raymond James Stadium that day. He watched the game in a hotel room.
He’ll be inside Raymond James on Feb. 7.