Jamal Adams (54) high fiving at Minnesota Vikings practice
Jamal Adams (54) high fiving at Minnesota Vikings practice
By all accounts, Minnesota Vikings practice this afternoon felt a lot like the office on a Friday. A lot of that padded practice intensity from earlier in the week was reportedly gone, as the team focused a lot on special teams and more targeted drills on the other sides of the ball.
JJ McCarthy stans will be happy to hear that Minnesota’s 2024 1st round draft pick had one of his better days Friday, just 24 hours after Kyler Murray reportedly started to pull away with a great day on Thursday.
The biggest news of Friday, though, may have been on defense. After weeks of Josh Metellus playing deep safety, in the absence of Harrison Smith, the Vikings tried something new today.
Jamal Adams changing numbers… and positions?
Instead of Metellus, Minnesota moved newly signed veteran Jamal Adams from linebacker to safety. The 30-year-old played his first eight NFL seasons as a safety, before he was moved to linebacker last season with the Las Vegas Raiders.
How serious are the MN Vikings about moving Adams to back to his natural position? Serious enough that, on Friday, they changed his number from 54 to 32. That’s notable because, per NFL league rules, safeties cannot wear numbers above 49. If this was a one-practice thing, you’d have to think the number change would wait.
Jamal Adams is now wearing No. 32 and is getting what looks like safety reps with the Vikings’ top defense (in their three safety looks).
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) August 7, 2026
During his NFL career as a safety, Jamal Adams made three-straight Pro Bowls from 2018 to 2020, two with the New York Jets — who drafted him 6th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft — and one with the Seattle Seahawks.
Can new MN Vikings safety/linebacker still ball?
The former LSU Tiger was one of the best safeties in football from 2018 to 2021, but injuries became a real issue after that. From 2022 to 2024, Adams never played more than nine games in a season and only participated in 15 games combined during those three seasons.
Last year with the Raiders, Jamal Adams was active for all 17 games, but started just four and collected 45 total tackles. When he was at his best (2018), he piled up 115 total tackles. In his first four seasons, he also collected 21.5 sacks, 9.5 of which came 2020 alone.
Jamal Adams making plays for the @Raiders 🙌
LVvsSEA on @NFLNetwork
Watch live out-of-market preseason games on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/75Lmc8X37H
— NFL (@NFL) August 8, 2025
Oh my goodness, Jamal Adams. #TakeFlight
It’s @TheAdamsEra! 😱 #NYGvsNYJ
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Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/414bcK9I5b pic.twitter.com/LZvbqKWHjz
— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2019
As you can see from the clips above, no matter what position Adams plays, you can expect some exotic looks while he is on the field, in Brian Flores’ defense. Even in his 30s, Adams knows how to find the football and make plays that can change football games. In his prime, he was Josh Metellus on steroids..
What does this mean for Harrison Smith?
What does this mean for the possible return of Harrison Smith? We haven’t heard much on that front recently. That’s not surprising, since the last report to come out pushed his decision back into the preseason.
Nonetheless, you can’t help but wonder if this move has anything to do with Harry’s retirement plans. Of course, it could be completely unrelated. On the other hand, it’s very plausible today’s “number change” has everything to do with Smith’s future.
Could the Minnesota Vikings be testing Adams out at safety because Harrison Smith isn’t coming back? Or, is Flores just trying to figure out how to best supplement Hitman, when he returns?
Either way, it doesn’t seem like Josh Metellus is the answer.