Jamal Adams keeps delivering hits.
On Thursday, the Jets safety continued to blast the NFL for fining him over the unnecessary roughness penalty called for his hit on Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield in Monday night’s loss to Cleveland.
“It’s crazy. It bothered me a lot. It’s kind of like, what do you want me to do?” Adams said. “It was legal. Next time, I might just tag him on the hip and say, ‘He’s it,’ and play tag with him. I don’t know what else you want me to do in that situation.”
Adams tweeted on Wednesday night that he had been fined $21,000 by the league and expressed his displeasure with the fine. He continued to voice his indignation Thursday and said the officials had apologized to Jets coaches after the game for the call. Adams said he will appeal the fine.
“What’s funny is that after the game those guys came to the coaching staff and apologized for that call,” Adams said. “At the same time, those guys have a tough situation as far as calling certain calls. It’s very tough for me to get mad at them because they have a tough job.”
A source said the league is unaware of any apology by the officials and the call was reviewed as part of the weekly process and deemed correct. Fine letters are not issued until Friday, but Adams will be fined for unnecessary roughness.
Adams expressed frustration with trying to play aggressively, but also not get penalties.
“Maybe we need to just put red jerseys on quarterbacks,” Adams said.
The play occurred in the first quarter. Mayfield rolled out on third down and Adams came flying across the field. He delivered a hit after Mayfield threw an incompletion. The penalty extended the drive and the Browns ended up kicking a field goal.
Jets coach Adam Gase sided with his player and said he’s not sure what to tell Adams to do differently.
“When I saw it live. I didn’t think that was a bad play, but that’s what they called,” Gase said. “We’re trying to think: How do we correct it and what do we tell him? If Baker does something different, that could have been a different result as far as maybe he gets the first down running it and then everybody goes, ‘Why didn’t Jamal attack him?’ It’s a Catch-22 for him.”Adams was very unhappy with the NFL taking money from him.
“I’m mad about the 21K,” Adams said. “That’s where it starts. It was a legal hit, in my opinion. It wasn’t unnecessary roughness. If anything, it didn’t look like Baker was in any pain because he got up and talked noise to me. At the end of the day, man, I guess we can’t touch quarterbacks.”
Adams was also upset earlier this week that he was benched for the final five defensive plays of Monday’s game after drawing consecutive penalties. He said he understands why Gase removed him after the two talked.
“I had a better understanding, but as a competitor I don’t want to come out of the game,” Adams said. “What competitor likes coming out of the game? We have an understanding. I told him I’m fine. I told Gregg [Williams] and my defensive backs coach that I’m fine. Was I upset with it? Yeah, no doubt. At the end of the day, we moved on. I don’t hold grudges. We’re moving on to our focus on the Patriots.”