Vikings' Adams Done for the Year: Brutal Knee Blow Ends His Comeback Before It Starts

The Minnesota Vikings just caught a brutal break. Veteran safety Jamal Adams is done for the 2026 season after suffering a right knee injury in Saturday's 13-10 preseason win over the New York Giants.

Adams went down early in the second quarter while in pass coverage, stumbling to the turf at MetLife Stadium with no contact. He grabbed his knee and had to be carted from the sideline to the locker room. The kind of non-contact injury that makes everybody's stomach drop.

Head coach Kevin O'Connell didn't sugarcoat it. He said he was 'crushed' for Adams, adding the team is going to miss him. Early tests didn't look great, and after further imaging Sunday, the news got worse: the season is over.

An All-Too-Familiar Script

This is the harsh reality of Adams' career lately. The 30-year-old has been here before. He played just one game in 2022, nine in 2023 and five in 2024. Last season he managed to appear in all 17 games with the Raiders as a part-time player.

Adams signed with Minnesota on the eve of training camp partly because of his relationship with Vikings GM Nolan Teasley from their Seattle days. He started out working at linebacker — the position he played for Vegas — but after a week, the Vikings switched his number from 54 to 32 and moved him back to safety.

He was getting heavy first-team reps in Minnesota's three-safety packages. He just happened to be with the second-team defense when his knee gave out.

Now the Vikings have to move forward without him. The hope was that Adams could add versatility and veteran firepower to the secondary. Instead, he'll be watching from the shelf, and Minnesota is left to wonder what might have been.