Jamal Adams out for 2026 season with knee injury
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Jamal Adams will miss the entire 2026 season after tearing or seriously damaging his right knee on a non-contact stumble in pass coverage during the Vikings' 13-10 preseason win over the Giants, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
- Coach Kevin O'Connell said he was "crushed" for Adams and that "we're going to miss him," noting early testing looked bad while the team awaited further imaging before finalizing the prognosis.
- The injury occurred early in the second quarter at MetLife Stadium when Adams fell to the turf without contact, grabbed his right knee, and was eventually carted from the sideline to the locker room.
- The Vikings signed Adams, 30, on the eve of training camp partly because of his familiarity with general manager Nolan Teasley from their shared Seattle Seahawks tenure.
- Minnesota initially planned to use Adams at linebacker but switched him back to safety after a week of camp, changing his jersey from No. 54 to No. 32 and giving him heavy first-team reps in three-safety packages.
- Adams' injury history is severe — he played just one game in 2022, nine in 2023, and five in 2024 before starting all 17 games with the Raiders last season, making this latest setback a continuation of a troubling pattern.
Why it matters: The Vikings had reshaped their secondary depth chart around Adams — moving him from linebacker back to safety, renumbering his jersey, and feeding him first-team reps in three-safety looks — only to lose him before the regular season, leaving a position they specifically targeted this offseason suddenly thin heading into Week 1.
Ask SkimNews
