Tony Adams

From UDFA practice-squad body to a 4-year Jets safety: 117 career tackles, 11 TFLs.

Tony Adams went undrafted in 2022 out of Illinois and started his career as a Jets practice-squad / rotational safety. The 2023 jump (10 tackles → 42 tackles, 6 TFLs) was the breakout — he replaced the role left by Lamarcus Joyner and started looking like a real piece.

2024 and 2025 have been steady starter-quality lines in the 30-35 tackle range with 5-6 PDs per season — a Year-3/4 plateau that's exactly what a hit UDFA looks like.

16 career pass defenses for an undrafted safety — top quartile for the 2022 UDFA class.

UDFA safeties rarely accumulate 16 PDs across their first 4 NFL seasons. The 2022 undrafted class produced very few starting-caliber defensive backs, and Adams' 5-6 PDs per season since 2023 put him at the very top of that group.

His 6 PDs in 2024 came on a Jets team that was rotating safeties heavily — earning that volume in mixed snaps speaks to ball-finding skill on contested throws.

6 TFLs in 2023 — 55% of his career TFLs came in a single breakout year.

The 2023 TFL spike (6) is one of the cleanest "breakout-year stat" markers in his profile. He's been 2-3 TFLs per season since, suggesting the 2023 number had a heavier dose of designed blitz/box-down usage that's been dialed back.

His first career sack came in 2024 and he's added another in 2025 — so the disruption profile is still there, just more selective.

117 career tackles, 11 TFLs, 16 PDs — a 4-year Jets-only safety resume.

Across his first 4 NFL seasons, all with the Jets:

- 117 career tackles - 11 career TFLs - 2 career sacks - 3 career QB hits - 16 career PDs - 0 career interceptions

Adams has stayed on the Jets roster as an undrafted player for 4 straight years — that survival is itself the meaningful career stat for a player with this draft pedigree.

0 career interceptions on 16 PDs — the contested-but-no-finish safety profile.

Adams has 16 career PDs and 0 career interceptions — a 4-year span without a pick despite consistent ball-disruption volume. That's an unusual ratio for a safety, where most starters get to single-digit INTs by Year 4.

It mirrors Benjamin St-Juste's profile across the league: high-PD, zero-INT DBs do exist, and they often catch up in a single high-INT season. Adams is overdue.

3 straight 30+ tackle seasons since the 2023 breakout — a reliable rotation/starter floor.

From 2023 onward, Adams has been a 30+ tackle, 5+ PD safety every year. That's the floor of a real NFL rotational starter — not All-Pro, but the kind of cost-controlled depth piece that defines a deep secondary.

For a player who entered the league with zero draft capital invested, getting to 3 consecutive seasons in that band is the long-tail UDFA success story.