Jamal Adams’ recent attempt to liven a crowd didn’t go according to plan.
Adams drew the ire of some New England Patriots fans last week when he tackled the team’s mascot, Pat the Patriot, during the NFL’s Pro Bowl festivities in Orlando, Fla., resulting in real injuries to the man inside the suit.
The New York Jets safety explained himself Wednesday on Stephen A. Smith’s ESPN Radio show, claiming the mascot was made aware of his plan and that he didn’t intend to inflict actual harm.
“Honestly, man, it was definitely planned in a way. I just wanted to put on a little show for the fans and the kids,” Adams said. “We were out there at the skills challenge for probably about three and a half hours and it seemed like they were kind of dying down as far as the energy. The sun was beating down on them. The Pats mascot was running around and he was getting booed by the fan bases all in the stands, so I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to take it in my hands, man.’
“The first thing I did was make sure — a guy who works for the NFL went over there and made sure it wasn’t a girl. I didn’t want to hit a young lady, you know what I mean? But it was a guy. And he told him, ‘Hey, by the end of the day, you might get tackled by Jamal.’ And apparently he kind of forgot that I was going to tackle him, which I just leaped on him, didn’t really tackle him. But what people didn’t see is (the mascot) getting up, chasing after me and tackling me. There’s a video out there, but maybe he got injured when he tackled me. So I’m trying to figure that one out.”
Adams, the sixth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, is coming off an excellent sophomore season with the Jets, explaining his Pro Bowl nod. He’ll want to put this incident behind him, though. The Jets have enough problems to worry about after a third consecutive last-place finish in the AFC East.
The Patriots, meanwhile, will face the Los Angeles Rams this Sunday in Super Bowl LIII. And Pat The Patriot seems to be doing just fine based on his Twitter activity from Atlanta.
