The Minnesota Vikings are signing Jamal Adams to a contract, adding a veteran safety who has already been through the NFL’s sharpest turns. Jordan Schultz reported the move, which sends Adams to his sixth stop after time with the Jets, Seahawks, Titans, Lions and Raiders.
For Adams, the timing matters because this is not a comeback from nowhere. He was a first-round pick of the Jets out of LSU in 2017, then played out the fourth year of his rookie deal before New York used the fifth-year option and traded him to the Seahawks for a package including two first-round picks. Seattle followed with a four-year, $70 million extension in August of 2021, a contract that once looked like a franchise commitment and later became part of a much rougher career path.
That path kept moving. The Seahawks released Adams, he eventually signed with the Titans, then landed on the Lions’ practice squad in December 2024 before being released again. Last year, he signed a one-year deal with the Raiders and appeared in 17 games, making four starts while producing 45 tackles, five tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumbles. Those numbers do not read like a player at the end of the road, but they do explain why a team looking for experience would still see a reason to bring him in.
The Vikings are getting a player who has been valued, paid, moved and tested in just about every way an NFL safety can be. What is not yet clear is how they intend to use him or for how long, and the contract terms have not been disclosed. That uncertainty leaves the signing as both a fresh chance for Adams and a low-risk question for Minnesota: whether one more stop finally fits better than the last few did.
