Jets' Jamal Adams says NFL told him he put Patriots mascot in hospital with hit

Jordan Heck

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Jets' Jamal Adams says NFL told him he put Patriots mascot in hospital with hit image

Jets safety Jamal Adams was having fun with the Pro Bowl crowd Wednesday when he went over to tackle Pat Patriot, the official mascot of the Patriots team.

The clip was shared by ESPN and acquired over 1 million views on Twitter alone. Adams himself shared the video with the caption, "This one is for every Patriots hater out there!"

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Adams tackled the mascot because fans at the event kept booing him (after all, not many people are fans of the Patriots). In another video he smiled after saying, "Watch, I'm going to go knock out that Patriots mascot." He was clearly just having fun with the lax attitude of the Pro Bowl practice, but he didn't realize that he apparently put the person in the mascot costume in danger.

According to an ESPN report, Adams said the league told him that person was hospitalized as a result of his tackle. It's not clear how severe the injuries are, but Adams spoke with the media Thursday saying he wasn't trying to injure the person.

From ESPN's Michael DiRocco:

Adams said he was told the person inside the mascot costume was hospitalized on Thursday morning, but the NFL has not yet confirmed that information. Adams said the NFL is not happy with him because of the incident. "He [the mascot] was running around and everybody was booing him, so I said, ‘You know what? Let me go tackle him,’ Adams said. "I didn’t hit him that hard, man. All jokes aside, I didn’t hit him that hard. I don’t know what’s really going on, but they did tell me he’s in the hospital. My intention was never to hurt him. it was all about just a joke but I definitely want to check on him and make sure everything is good. At the end of the day we were out here just having fun and it wasn’t nothing intentionally to try to hurt the guy."

Adams said he'd go check on the person in the hospital, but when asked if he asked he regretted making the tackle, well . . .

The biggest proof that the NFL isn't happy with Adams: The league's official sub-Twitter account took down two videos involving Adams and Pat Patriot, one of which was a different angle of the hit you viewed above, and another where the mascot apparently got revenge on Adams by tackling him back.

The NFL has made no official statement on the incident.

The title of this article has been updated and the fourth paragraph has been edited to clarify attribution.

Jordan Heck

Jordan Heck Photo

Jordan Heck is a Social Media Producer at Sporting News. Before working here, he was a Digital Content Producer at The Indianapolis Star. He graduated with a degree from Indiana University.