While still learning the nuances of the position, he noted there are quite a few similarities between linebacker and safety, which is why there hasn't been a great learning curve with the transition. If there's any big adjustment to be made, it's been his new point of view up in the box.
"[Y]ou're understanding keys, you're shooting gaps, you're reading the running backs. So it's very similar in a lot of ways," Adams explained. "But like I say, I always tell people, man, it's just a different lens. I'm closer to the guards and the tackles. They can get their hands on me. I've got to obviously have great eyes to know what I'm looking at, having the right keys. And while you're in the back, you have a whole lens, a whole view of what's going on. So it's very similar in a lot of ways, but different as well."
Getting back on the football field itself has been a much more strenuous task than switching positions.
Once regarded as one of the best safeties in the NFL, a line of serious injuries began to affect Adams' career. In the span of four seasons, he suffered a torn labrum, torn quad tendon and a hip injury, forcing him out of action for 41 games.
While mentally fatiguing, he buckled down this offseason on his training regimen to get back to full health. He expressed gratitude to Carroll for taking another shot on him, as Adams believes he's in the best physical shape in years.
"I just couldn't be myself," he said. "I couldn't really practice the way I wanted to, but mentally, it was definitely draining having to sit down when I didn't want to sit down. … And obviously, it was different for me, very humbling. For me to sit down and obviously just gain perspective, not even just football, just life after football, it was tough.
"It was a lot of dark days, but I fought through. I knew eventually I would get back out there, but it was going to take time, and it definitely did. So just to be where I'm at now, mentally and physically, I'm definitely back to who I am."