New York Jets fans will laugh hysterically at this NFL safety ranking
Ever since the New York Jets traded safety Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks in 2020, Jets fans have constantly remained on the prowl for opportunities to throw shade at their team’s former face of the franchise. And, of course, those opportunities have been aplenty considering the major struggles of Adams and the Seahawks.
This latest piece of news is a juicy weapon for Jets fans to use in anti-Adams arguments.
Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson recently released a ranking of the NFL’s top safeties. In it, Monson separates the league’s best safeties based on their roles and ranks them against other safeties who are utilized similarly.
The list features four groups: “Coverage Free Safety”, “Matchup Slot”, “All-Around”, and “Box Strong Safety”.
In the “Box Strong Safety” group, Monson ranks Adams third. Arizona’s Budda Baker has the top spot.
Placing second – one spot ahead of Adams – is New York Jets safety Jordan Whitehead.
New York signed the former Buccaneer to a two-year, $14.5 million deal in free agency. The 25-year-old Whitehead is a hard hitter who makes a huge impact in the run game. In each of the past two seasons, he ranked fourth among safeties in run stops, collecting 18 in 2021 and 19 in 2020. His total of 18 run stops in 2021 equaled the combined mark of all safeties on the Jets roster.
Whitehead is also an enforcer in zone coverage. The Pittsburgh alum ranked 11th-best out of 105 qualified safeties (90th percentile) with an allowed passer rating of 51.8 in zone coverage last season.
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The trade package that the Jets received for Adams essentially turned into Alijah Vera-Tucker and Garrett Wilson, two top-15 draft picks who project to be cornerstone pieces for the Jets’ offense. Plus, the Jets now have a strong safety who is considered by some to be better than Adams anyway.
Quite the robbery by Joe Douglas.
