Another free agent safety is off the market with the Colts’ AFC South rival, the Tennessee Titans, signing Jamal Adams.
Welcome to Nashville, @prez 👋 pic.twitter.com/WQHwk65boN
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) July 11, 2024
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, this is a one-year deal for Adams. At this time, contract details have not yet been reported.
Adams joins the Titans after spending the last four seasons with Seattle. In 2023, Adams allowed 28 receptions on 34 targets, holding pass-catchers to just 10.4 yards per reception. He also generated seven pressures as a blitzer.
Adams is another addition to the defensive side of the ball for the Titans, which has been a point of emphasis this offseason.
So far we’ve seen Tennessee hire Dennard Wilson as the defensive coordinator, along with adding L’Jarius Sneed, Chidobe Awuzie, Kenneth Murray, and Sebastian Joseph-Day. The Titans also used five of their draft picks on defense as well.
Last season, the Titans ranked 16th in points per game allowed. They were 23rd in yards per pass attempt surrendered and fifth in yards per rush.
The safety position is, of course, a big unknown for the Colts. The secondary as a whole last season gave up too many big plays while not making enough plays on the football.
Re-signing Julian Blackmon helps provide stability, but it’s that free safety role that remains the unknown. Through offseason programs, Nick Cross and Rodney Thomas were sharing those starting reps.
While the Colts could benefit from added competition at free safety, depth may also be a need as well with Daniel Scott being placed on IR with a season-ending Achilles injury.
Given that Adams has spent the majority of his NFL snaps playing in the box, he probably wasn’t going to be a fit for the Colts, given that they moved Blackmon to that role last season and he had a very good year.
In addition to Adams being signed by Tennessee, the Rams recently re-signed John Johnson, while Tashaun Gipson is facing a six game suspension.
Whether or not the Colts are actively trying to add to the safety position is an unknown, but following the draft, GM Chris Ballard did say they would explore remaining free agent options–not specifically safety–to see if there were any potential fits.
“Between now and the start of the season – there are still some good players out there,” Ballard said after the draft. “There’s some veterans out there that can still play. We’ll dig and investigate all of them and then make a decision if we think they are the right fit for us as we go along.”