NASHVILLE — Three-time Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams’ tenure with the Tennessee Titans ended Thursday — his 29th birthday — with his release after the team placed the eight-year NFL veteran on the league’s reserve/nonfootball injury list last weekend.
That roster move came after the Titans (1-4) already had declared Adams out with a hip injury heading into their AFC South Division opener against the Indianapolis Colts in Nashville. Adams started one of three games he played for Tennessee, and he had just one tackle, with that coming in the Titans’ one win, 31-12 against the host Miami Dolphins on Sept. 12.
A first-round pick in 2017 by the New York Jets, the 6-foot-1, 214-pounder signed a one-year deal with Tennessee just before training camp opened in July. He saw joining a defense coordinated by his former Jets secondary coach, Dennard Wilson, along with safeties coach Steve Jackson and linebackers coach Frank Bush giving him a comfort level. Quandre Diggs, once a safety in the same Seattle Seahawks secondary with Adams, already was on the Tennessee roster.
Wilson deferred questions Thursday to first-year head coach Brian Callahan, who won’t talk to reporters again until Friday, on why Adams didn’t work out in Tennessee. The Titans used seven starters new to this defense this season in Sunday’s 20-17 loss to Indianapolis.
“At this point, wish Jamal the best going forward,” Wilson said. “It just didn’t work out. Going forward, he’ll have success wherever he goes.”
The former LSU standout, the sixth overall pick seven years ago, started every game his first two seasons with the Jets and every game in his pro career when healthy until this season. Adams lasted three seasons with the Jets before being traded in 2020 to Seattle, where he earned his third straight Pro Bowl nod that season.
However, he had played just 10 games for the Seahawks over the past two seasons. They released him and Diggs in March despite taking on nearly $20 million in dead cap money by not waiting until after June 1.
Diggs, after signing with Tennessee in the offseason, has started all five games alongside Amani Hooker. Asked Wednesday if he had talked with Adams, Diggs said he talks with his friend regularly but declined to comment on what was going on between Adams and the Titans.
“All I could do is be there for my brother, you know?” Diggs said. “I mean, that’s all I can do. That’s all I will do. … Whatever’s going on, you’ve got to stay internal. And, you know, they’ll figure that out.”
The Titans currently have the NFL’s stingiest defense in total yards allowed and against the pass. They visit the Buffalo Bills (4-2) this Sunday.