Jets benefit from Adams slide

Jamal Adams unexpectedly slid a few spots down the draft board — and the New York Jets couldn’t believe their fortunes.

So, with the LSU safety still available, there was little doubt as to whom the Jets would take with the No. 6 overall pick.

“In a lot of our projections,” general manager Mike Maccagnan said Thursday night, “we really never had him getting to us.”

He was the best player remaining on the Jets’ board, Maccagnan acknowledged, and the son of former Giants running back George Adams will immediately help a secondary that struggled mightily last season. In three years at LSU, Adams had five interceptions and 127 tackles and established himself as a terrific defender in both man and zone coverage with solid skills in the run defense.

“He checked all the boxes for us,” coach Todd Bowles said.

This was the sixth time in franchise history that the Jets picked sixth, and second in three years after New York took defensive lineman Leonard Williams in 2015. That year, Williams unexpectedly dropped to New York — and the same thing happened with Adams.

“He’s one of the guys we had targeted very high,” Bowles said.

Adams had largely been linked to Chicago at No. 3 in the weeks leading to the draft, but the Bears moved up one spot as the result of a trade with San Francisco and took North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.

Adams then slipped out of the top five picks, something that caught him off guard.

“I was definitely surprised I slipped, but at the same time, everything happens for a reason,” Adams said during a conference call.

In his predraft meeting with the team, Adams said the Jets told him that if he was still available when they picked, they would “come to get me” — no questions asked.

“They kept their word,” Adams said. “They delivered.”