It was difficult enough to predict how the Tennessee Titans' defense will look in 2024. Then they added safety Jamal Adams.

Adams is an oxymoron, at his best and his worst. He's a three-time All Pro safety who's spent most of his career roving parts of the field usually reserved for linebackers. He's known more at this point in his career for rushing the passer than for defending the pass. He's dealt with injuries five seasons in a row but never been hurt the same way twice. He's lived three NFL lifetimes before his 29th birthday.

On a defense that already features a first-time defensive coordinator, four new position coaches and up-to-seven likely new starters, predicting Adams' value is a near impossibility.

But let's try. Here's a look at who Adams is in 2024, how the Titans can use him and what that usage could mean for the Titans.

Who is Titans safety Jamal Adams in 2024?

Across nine games in 2023, Adams ranked third among safeties in pass rush win rate, fifth in run stop percentage and first in average depth of tackle nearest to the line of scrimmage. He also posted career worsts in missed tackles, yards after catch allowed and completion percentage allowed and performed significantly below league safety averages in coverage. While many of the NFL's best safeties are defined by what they take away, Adams' success revolves more around what he creates.

This paints the picture of Adams as a player with value, albeit not as a traditional safety. Adams has always played a plurality of his snaps inside "the box," the congested area of the defense between the offensive tackles within 7-10 yards of the line of scrimmage. In 2023, he spent even more time near the line of scrimmage, roughly doubling how much time he played slot corner while posting a career-low in free safety snaps.

Adams was a linebacker in everything but name in 2023. A fairly solid one, sure. But he's hardly a replacement for Kevin Byard and he doesn't "fix" the Titans' safety room. This doesn't mean he can't be valuable, though.

How can Titans get best from Jamal Adams?

The Titans know Adams' value in the box. Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson was the New York Jets' defensive backs coach for Adams' first three seasons, and Adams lined up in the box an average of 31 times per game there. But Adams' steady growth as a slot coverage option is worth noting too. Last year he ranked ninth among safeties who played at least 100 slot coverage snaps by allowing just 0.83 yards per coverage snap, and (prior to his 2022 injury) in 2021 he ranked third among safeties with at least 80 slot snaps allowing 0.43 yards per snap.

Since 2021, defenses with safeties who played 400+ box snaps as Adams did in his best seasons finished top-five in points allowed, yards allowed per game and yards allowed per play at almost exactly the same rate as teams without 400-snap box safeties. Getting Adams his reps near the ball is neither a cheat code for success nor a harbinger of failure. A maximized Adams is one allowed to rush the passer and play tight against the run but also can be counted on to cover slot receivers roughly 10 times per game.

Does Jamal Adams make the Titans better?

The Titans can certainly do more at safety with Adams on roster, but it's still tough to predict how much more will translate to better. The signing shouldn't mean too much help for Amani Hooker and Elijah Molden as deep safeties, but it allows the Titans to deploy Molden more creatively, can allow for more rotation among cornerbacks too and takes some pressure off edge rushers Arden Key and Harold Landry.

Maybe an overly optimistic way to look at Adams is to say his best-case scenario presents the kind of value to the Titans' back end in a more secondary-focused era that Denico Autry provided to the front seven in the more front-seven focused era. He'll serve several roles and, in doing so, free up his teammates to specialize in areas they can thrive. That said, few of Adams' new teammates at safety or linebacker specialize in coverage, so this signing doesn't little to address a hole in the middle of the defense against the pass that otherwise could've been addressed if the team opted to sign a more conventional safety.

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All of this is predicated on Adams being able to stay consistently healthy, something he hasn't been able to do this decade. When available, is the kind of talent who offenses have to account for. His presence doesn't turn the Titans' safety room or middle-of-the-field coverage into a strength, but it can make the overall defense stronger.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Does Jamal Adams make Tennessee Titans defense better? In what ways?