September 21st, 2022 at 9:07am CST by Sam Robinson
A Buccaneers contributor for the past four seasons, Andrew Adams is joining a third team since his Tampa stint ended. After signing with the Giants earlier this year and then landing with the Steelers’ practice squad, Adams is now a Titan.
Tennessee is signing the veteran safety off Pittsburgh’s practice squad, per ProFootballNetwork.com’s Aaron Wilson (on Twitter). Adams, 29, is a six-year veteran who has spent time on the Giants and Bucs’ active rosters. He will be on the Titans’ 53-man roster Wednesday.
Although Adams’ Giants deal did not lead to a spot on their 53-man roster this year, the former UDFA has made 35 career starts. He opened his career by moving into New York’s starting lineup, during the team’s most recent playoff season (2016), and was an 11-game starter for Todd Bowles‘ first Tampa Bay defense three years ago.
The latter bump came after Adams intercepted four passes with the 2018 Bucs. Adams played all 20 Bucs games during their 2020 Super Bowl-winning season, working as a backup behind Jordan Whitehead and Antoine Winfield Jr., and started three games last year for the team. Pro Football Focus graded Adams as a solid safety last season, on 214 defensive snaps. He worked extensively as a Bucs special-teamer as well, seeing time on more than 60% of Tampa Bay’s special teams snaps from 2020-21.
The Titans have two solidified safety starters, in Kevin Byard and Amani Hooker, but the team placed backup A.J. Moore on IR last week. Lonnie Johnson, who has bounced from cornerback to safety over his career, has also been with three teams this year (Texans, Chiefs, Titans). Joshua Kalu, who caught on with the Titans just before camp, is the AFC South team’s other backup safety.
Two safeties the Steelers signed this offseason have landed on IR. The team waited until after setting its 53-man roster to move Damontae Kazee, as opposed to its shuttling of Karl Joseph to IR prior to that date. But the position became thinner this summer.
Pittsburgh is expected to address that soon. Andrew Adams is expected to sign with the team Monday, ProFootballNetwork.com’s Aaron Wilson tweets. It is a practice squad deal, according to ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor (on Twitter).
The Giants had Adams in training camp this year but cut him ahead of their move down to 53. Adams, 29, is a six-year veteran who has played for the Giants (from 2016-17) and Buccaneers (2018-21).
The UConn alum worked as a backup for the Super Bowl-winning Bucs squad two years ago and made three starts for last year’s team. A former UDFA, Adams was a regular Bucs starter in 2019. He has seven career interceptions; four of those came with the 2018 Bucs.
Former second-round pick Josh Jackson is also signing with Pittsburgh’s practice squad, per Pryor. The Packers draftee has bounced around the league since a 2021 trade moved him out of Green Bay. Jackson’s most recent stop came with the Cardinals, who cut him on their way down to the 53-man max. The Steelers also added linebacker Delontae Scott to their taxi squad.
Prior to training camp, the Giants reunited with Andrew Adams. But the former New York safety starter will not be part of the team’s 53-man roster next week. The Giants released Adams on Friday.
The six-year veteran’s exit made room for kicker Ryan Santoso, who is now back on the Giants’ 80-man roster. Ahead of their final preseason game, the Giants also signed wide receiver Travis Toivonen.
Graham Gano is in place as the Giants’ kicker, but he suffered a concussion in the team’s second preseason game. Santoso, whom the Jaguars waived earlier this week, represents insurance. This is a return trip for Santoso, who was with the Giants during the 2020 season and most of the 2021 offseason. The team traded the young kicker to the Panthers just before last season. Santoso, who turns 27 today, has bounced around since that trade, playing in one Panthers game but also moving to the Lions, Titans, Rams and Jaguars.
Adams, who caught on with Big Blue initially as a UDFA in 2016, represented insurance as well. The Giants released Logan Ryan and did not re-sign Jabrill Peppers, who is now with the Patriots. But Adams could not hold off some of the team’s younger safeties during training camp. Adams, 29, started three games for the Buccaneers last season, will head straight to free agency as a vested vet.
The former 17-game Giants starter (from 2016-17) and four-year Bucs contributor lost out to the likes of UDFA Trenton Thompson, whom ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan notes (via Twitter) has impressed the Giants, and fourth-round pick Dane Belton. Despite the latter suffering a broken collarbone early in camp, Raanan adds the Iowa product is not expected to be out too much longer.
Today’s minor NFL transactions, including a handful of notable names landing on the physically unable to perform list and the non-football injury list as teams open up camp:
As players are moved to the PUP and NFI lists and rosters are starting to take shape for the start of training camps, many players are searching for opportunities to make a team.
Here’s the list of players who have received workouts or taken visits today and this past weekend: