Months after acquiring Chuck Clark via trade, the Jets are adding another safety to the mix. Adrian Amos is signing with the team, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets.
Linked to the Ravens after visiting earlier this offseason, the Baltimore native will instead follow Clark to New York. The Jets are set to add the ex-Bears and Packers safety on a one-year deal worth up to $4M.
Amos continues the chain of ex-Packers to join the Jets, following Aaron Rodgers, Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. Amos, 30, spent the past four seasons in Green Bay and has worked exclusively as a starter throughout his eight-year career. Following the draft, the Packers had not closed the door on re-signing Amos. But they will let another free agent join Rodgers in the Big Apple.
Despite the Packers not showing urgency to re-sign Amos this offseason, the veteran defender’s only major connections were to teams with two safety starters in place. The Ravens discussed a deal with Amos, but they already have Marcus Williams and 2022 first-round pick Kyle Hamilton at safety. The Jets added Clark to a back-line corps including Jordan Whitehead. The former Buccaneer, a 2022 free agency addition, started 17 Jets games last season.
Pro Football Focus graded Amos as one of the NFL’s worst safety regulars last season, but he drew a top-30 mark at the position in every other year of his career. Amos also made a career-high 102 tackles in 2022, registering a career-most seven tackles for loss as well. This signing gives the Jets interesting depth, at the very least. It will be interesting to see how the Jets use Amos and if he can recapture the form he showed prior to a 2022 step back.
Amos landed a four-year, $36M Packers deal during the 2019 offseason. This came just after he started for a No. 1-ranked Bears defense, which powered the team to an NFC North title in Vic Fangio’s final year at the controls. The former Bears fifth-rounder then helped the Packers to three straight division crowns.
Green Bay still rosters ex-first-rounder Darnell Savage, but the team reduced his playing time last season. With Amos now gone, the Packers have a host of less proven players — Rudy Ford, Jonathan Owens and Tarvarius Moore among them — vying for the spot alongside Savage.
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