Adrian Amos gives the NY Jets a much-needed veteran FS

The NY Jets have reportedly made a sizable mid-June splash, signing former Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers safety Adrian Amos to a one-year deal worth a maximum of $4 million, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

Amos has started 122 games over the last eight seasons and hasn't missed a game since 2017. He's been a model of durability and consistency throughout his career, and he fills a significant need for the Jets.

The Jets entered the offseason with an obvious need to upgrade the safety position following disappointing years from both Lamarcus Joyner and Jordan Whitehead.

Whitehead will return in 2023, but he'll now be joined by Amos and former Baltimore Ravens team leader Chuck Clark. Amos gives the Jets three starting-caliber veteran safeties and their own true free safety.

Adrian Amos adresses a key need in the NY Jets' defense

Amos is a versatile veteran safety who has played both free and strong safety. That said, while he played a bit more strong safety in Green Bay than in Chicago, he's still played more snaps at free safety than strong safety in each year of his NFL career, per Pro Football Focus.

It wasn't long ago that Amos was one of the best and most underrated safeties in football. In each year from 2017 to 2021, Amos finished with a PFF grade north of 74.0, including multiple seasons where he graded out as the second-best safety in football.

Amos is, however, coming off a very disappointing 2022 season. The 30-year-old veteran recorded a career-low 53.4 PFF grade last year, ranking 81st out of just 88 qualified safeties. Amos particularly struggled in coverage, with a woeful 45.6 PFF coverage grade.

The Jets are certainly hoping that Amos' down year isn't a sign of things to come.

Of course, Amos is just the latest former Packers player to sign with the Jets this offseason, joining the likes of Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Tim Boyle, Billy Turner, and others. He's yet another former teammate of Aaron Rodgers, although it's likely the Jets would have been interested regardless.

Outside of John Johnson III, Amos was the only true starting-caliber free safety remaining on the market, and it's quite possible that Amos was asking for less than Johnson.

It will be interesting to see how the Jets plan to deploy the likes of Amos, Whitehead, and Clark. Perhaps the team could consider using Clark as more of a part-time sub-package nickel linebacker, as he does have some experience in that role.

Either way, the Jets' safety situation is better than it was at this time last year. In Amos, Whitehead, and Clark, the Jets now have three starting-caliber veteran free safeties. They're not relying on someone like Tony Adams to play a starting role. They're not asking Whitehead or Clark to play out of position.

The Jets needed to add a veteran free safety before training camp and they did. Adrian Amos is an excellent signing for the Jets at this stage of the offseason.