Philadelphia Eagles: Andrew Adams likely nothing more than a depth move

When the Philadelphia Eagles signed safety Will Parks to a one-year deal last offseason, fans of the team were quick to excite themselves over the addition. After all, he was an unbelievably versatile player for the Broncos, he grew up in Philadelphia, and the Eagles had a glaring hole at the safety position following the departure of Malcolm Jenkins.

Alas, the signing ended up not being all that significant in the grand scheme of things. Parks suffered an injury during training camp, and was only really used as an emergency back-up/depth piece upon his return. Players like Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills, and even Marcus Epps remained firmly ahead of the fan favorite DB in the depth chart.

Parks was ultimately released around the trade deadline to clear up a roster spot, leaving everyone rather confused as to why he was signed in the first place.

Andrew Adams likely just a backup for the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Fast forward a full calendar year, and the Eagles have made a similar transaction by way of signing former Bucs/Giants safety Andrew Adams to a one-year contract. Another versatile DB who can line up at both safety positions, Adams is just a slightly less popular version of Parks – a player brought in to help eat up snaps.

Adams had brief stints as a starter with the Giants in 2013 and the Buccaneers in 2019, but ultimately found himself nothing more than a reserve/special teamer when it came to Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl run last year. He played in 16 regular season games without making a single start, finishing the year with a whopping two tackles.

Adams does have six career interceptions to his name (including one against former Eagles QB Carson Wentz), which is far more than most of Philly’s defensive backs can say. However, set to turn 29 years old this October, it’s not like Adams is some sort of super exciting prospect who has boatloads of time left to develop.

The Philadelphia Eagles just lost 1,000+ snaps at the safety position following the departures of Jalen Mills and Rudy Ford, and are seemingly scrambling to fill them in. Rodney McLeod could miss some time early in the regular season due to a torn ACL that he suffered last year, and rookies K’Von Wallace and Grayland Arnold simply didn’t get a lot of playing time in 2020.

Adams is a veteran who’s at least started in games throughout his career, and the Eagles have a bit of familiarity with him due to the fact that he worked out for the team in 2018. He was expected to join the Eagles practice squad that season, but ultimately signed with Tampa Bay instead (smart decision!).

I know that most of us were simply itching to see Howie Roseman and the Eagles sign somebody this spring, but Adams isn’t someone really worth factoring into the team’s longterm DB plans. They should still seriously consider drafting 2-3 defensive backs in a few weeks.

When you’re operating with next to zero cap space, these are the types of moves that a team is forced to make. Expect another couple of signings similar to that of Adams – special teamers and fringe backups – over the next couple of days.