Green Bay is Montravius Adams’ longest stop so far in his NFL career after the Packers took him in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He spent his first four years in the league there, appearing in 45 games and starting three. However, Pittsburgh is home. He signed a two-year contract with the Steelers in the offseason to remain an important depth player on the defensive line.
Adams joined the Gaelic Gridiron Podcast on Wednesday, and he spoke about a number of topics. One of the biggest ones was about how he sees his future playing out.
“Honestly, as a kid, I always thought I would play up to 10 years,” Adams said. “This year will be the start of Year 8, and I could definitely see myself finishing out at Pittsburgh. They helped rejuvenate my career in a couple of ways. This is a place where I like to lay it all on the line at and finish out right here.”
Adams has only been a member of the Steelers for less than three full seasons, but he seems to have fallen in love with the organization and the area. Pittsburgh signed Adams off the New Orleans Saints’ practice squad partway through the 2021 season. Adams ended up playing in five games and starting four for the Steelers that season. He posted eight total tackles and a tackle for a loss along with knocking down a pass in that limited time. He then appeared in all 17 games in 2022 and 13 games in 2023 after missing time due to an ankle injury.
However, Adams seemed content to stay in New Orleans prior to the Steelers signing him off the practice squad. Why the change of heart? Adams is quick to credit head coach Mike Tomlin for persuading him to come to Pittsburgh.
“Honestly, I was kind of in a space where like all these NFL teams [were] kind of the same,” Adams said. “It is what it is, so I’ll just stay right here in New Orleans. But my man Mike T and them gave me a call and as you can see, it went great. It is just him being a player’s coach, being for the people.”
It’s Tomlin’s approach to players, and Adams specifically, that he credits for helping him play so much in Pittsburgh. He used one of Tomlin’s sayings to illustrate the impact that the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach has had on his career by letting Adams be more of the player he was in college. While at Auburn, Adams was a disruptor at defensive tackle with 10.5 career sacks and 19.5 tackles for a loss. What he wasn’t was a finished product.
“When I came into the NFL, I was more of an instinctive football player than really knowing the game of football,” Adams said. “I feel like at the beginning of my career, that was kinda why I didn’t get on the field as much just ’cause I didn’t really understand how to play. But for Mike T, it’s about feeding into your strengths, you know what I mean? … Him just feeding off my strengths and throwing me out there and letting me play and be comfortable with it and trusting me.”
That trust led Adams to having more playing time and making more of an impact with the Steelers than any other stop in his career. Since coming to Pittsburgh, Adams has started 21 games, more than five times the amount of games he started in his first 50 career appearances. In 2023 alone, Adams averaged almost two tackles a game, a career-high. He also tied his previous career-high with two tackles for a loss on the season. Overall, Adams has simply played more and produced more since arriving in Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately for Adams, the injury he suffered midway through the 2023 season led to Keeanu Benton coming on and taking Adams’ starting spot. While Benton is unlikely to relinquish that spot anytime soon, evidently the Steelers want to keep Adams around. It was enough for the Steelers to offer him a contract to come back for 2024.
Based on Adams’ comments, he’s quite happy to play in Pittsburgh not just now but for the rest of his career. All thanks to Tomlin, who convinced a practice squad defensive tackle that Pittsburgh was different. Not only that, but Tomlin proved that he and the Steelers were different.
You can watch the entire conversation with Adams below:
