What’s Your Why: Tony Adams

What's Your Why is an in-depth interview series to get to know the players at the New York Jets. Safety Tony Adams sat down with team reporter Caroline Hendershot and discussed how he was raised, his collegiate career at Illinois, and how he made the Jets 53-man roster as an Undrafted Free Agent.

Caroline Hendershot: How would you describe yourself as a kid?

Tony Adams: I'll say I was the same way I am now, energetic, passionate. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and you know, I just like to have fun.

CH: What would you say some of the things your parents instilled in you growing up?

TA: I'll say, for my mother, ambition, hard work and if you really want something – you have to go and get it. I see my mother work really hard. I'd seen her work late nights, sometimes overnight, and she'd always tell me if you want something in this world – you have to go get it. Being around my father, a loving and very genuine person, he always taught me like to live life with my heart. Both of those dynamics just created who I am today.

CH: So, your parents tried to give you everything. When did they introduce you to football?

TA: My mother introduced me to football when I was younger, but I didn't really like it. I actually hated it, so I quit it. High school is when I say it clicked, and I saw my friends all going out for football.

CH: When did playing football at the collegiate level kind of become a reality for you?

TA: I'll say it was once I got my opportunity in high school to play varsity. I was third string on the depth chart, and one of my best friends was the star in safety. He broke his leg, then the backup broke his wrist and then I got an opportunity to get out there. The next thing you know, I start getting a couple interceptions, but the offers did not roll in for me until the end of my junior year.

CH: I know you were injured a lot during your time in Illinois. Can you describe your time in school?

TA: It wasn't just the injuries. It was the injuries piled on. I lost a lot growing up, a lot of people that were close to me have passed away. My first summer there, I lost like four people that first fall and in the summer, I lost four people. When you start losing people, you're really close with, you grew up with, or who've lived with you, it's hard. You have to deal with all the stuff you're hearing back at home and the loved ones you're leaving back there to handle all that stress and adversity. I think I lost myself in the midst of that. It was hard hearing people you grew up with got shot, hearing someone that you love died from this cause, or I had a teammate I played with in high school who drowned to death. Every year it was like the deaths would pile on and pile on. I fell into a depression. I got to a real dark place.

CH: Do you remember what you said to the Jets coaches over, like, a pre-draft zoom that really impressed them?

TA: Yeah, they called me, and I wasn't expecting it. They asked me what my goal was and at the time I was living in St Louis in my friend's basement. I just felt like I'm not coming back to St Louis empty handed. So, I told them, 'I'm coming here to take somebody's job', straight like that. I meant that from the bottom of my heart. I'm coming out to New York, and if I come to New York, I'm coming here to take somebody's job

CH: So, the end of training camp comes, and the 53-man roster is announced. How did you find out that you made the 53-man roster?

TA: I honestly don't remember how I made the 53-man. I knew I had a hood on walking through the building. I didn't want to get found and I just wanted to stay here. But when I knew, I called my people, and I was just crying. I was crying like,' We did it! I am not coming back home.' That was a great feeling knowing like I'm not coming back home empty handed. Everything I said I was going to do; I stood on it.

CH: So, you checked off your goals in 2022, checked off your goals in 2023, what's the goal for 2024?

TA: All-Pro. Some people will say it's crazy and other people will say it'll never happen for him. Nobody ever thought I was going to get here. The world won't believe in you until you believe in yourself and do it. So, All-Pro and help this team get to a Super Bowl. Win a Super Bowl. That's the only thing that matters.

CH: What do you have to do to accomplish those goals?

TA: Be the best version of myself and, like I said, be light in a world full of darkness. Love on my teammates, bring that passion, bring that energy, and help them be their best self out there.