The Pittsburgh Steelers re-signed DL Montravius Adams this offseason on a two-year, $5.25 million contract. Having spent the past two-plus seasons here, he now gets to continue his career under head coach Mike Tomlin, whom he feels helped open some doors for him as a professional football player.
Jumping on the Gaelic Gridiron podcast, he talked about how Tomlin does things differently than sometimes other teams do. Specifically, Adams credits his head coach with trusting him and allowing him to play his own game. In turn, he learned to trust himself as a player, boosting his confidence, and enriching his game.
“I feel like I can be pretty realistic with myself. When I came into the NFL, I was more of an instinctive football player than really knowing the game. I feel like at the beginning of my career, that was why I didn’t get on the field as much, just because I didn’t really understand how to play”, Adams admitted.
“But for Mike T, it’s about feeding into your strengths. For me, I was a guy who could get off the ball pretty quick, get off blocks, do this and that. I feel like that’s what helped my morale, him just feeding off my strengths and throwing me out there and letting me play and be comfortable with it and trusting me”.
Adams’ quick get-off immediately jumped off the screen after the Steelers signed him off the Saints’ practice squad in 2021. And going back to that time, his comments correspond to what he’s saying now about their approach with him.
“For me mostly, it’s been attack”, he said about what his coaches told him as dove right in. “Get upfield, be disruptive and just do what I do best”.
The Steelers liked what they saw from Adams in that brief window enough to re-sign him to a two-year contract. And now they’ve signed him to another two-year deal, showing that they still value him. He lost his starting job last season to budding rookie Keeanu Benton, but they still have plans for him.
In 13 games, Adams finished the 2023 season with 24 tackles, two TFLs, a forced fumble, and a batted pass. He still played a career-high 416 snaps in spite of the fact that he missed a chunk of time due to injury and lost his starting job along the way.
