New York Jets add much-needed experience to their safety unit
The New York Jets entered the 2023 offseason with a big need at the safety position. However, prior to today, they only made one notable addition to the position group, trading a seventh-round pick for former Ravens starter Chuck Clark. This has left many fans wondering about the team’s plans for the unit.
Today, the Jets finally added another veteran to their safety unit. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Jets are signing former Packers starter Adrian Amos to a one-year deal worth up to $4 million.
Sources: The #Jets aren’t done adding former #Packers, as they are signing veteran DB Adrian Amos to a 1-year deal worth up to $4M. pic.twitter.com/MzHQyI37dy
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 13, 2023
Chosen by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round of the 2015 draft, the Penn State product has started 122 games over eight NFL seasons – 56 for Chicago and 66 for Green Bay. Amos spent his first four seasons with the Bears before joining the Packers in 2019. He started every game for the Packers over the past four seasons.
For his career, Amos has collected 636 tackles (28 for loss), 48 passes defended, 6.0 sacks, three forced fumbles, and 10 interceptions.
In terms of where he lines up, Amos is more of a box safety than a deep safety. In 2022, he lined up in the box on 37.9% of his defensive snaps, ranking 17th-highest among 73 qualified safeties. He lined up as a deep safety on 45.3% of his snaps, ranking 42nd. For perspective, the league averages for safeties were 26.7% and 51.2%, respectively. This means Amos played in the box 11.2% more often than the average safety, and he played deep 5.9% less often than the average safety.
Amos, who turned 30 in April, is coming off a rough end to his career in Green Bay, allowing six touchdowns to be thrown into his coverage in each of the past two seasons. It represents a steep decline for Amos, who was consistently excellent in coverage a few years ago. On throws into his coverage, Amos allowed a passer rating no higher than 82.4 in four consecutive seasons from 2017 to 2020, but he jumped to 95.7 in 2021 before spiking to 123.8 in 2022.
However, Amos remained a sound tackler in 2022, ranking 18th-best out of 73 qualified safeties with a missed tackle rate of just 7.8%. His missed tackle rate has remained below 10% in each of the past four seasons. For perspective, the 2022 NFL average for safeties was 11.6%.
The Jets now possess three veteran safeties with loads of starting experience, although none of them are known for their abilities in deep coverage. It will be interesting to see what Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has planned for this unit.
