Former Mizzou football captain Paul Adams keeps chasing pro football dream in USFL

Most of the players on the field never planned on being there.

Usually the football dream is fairly standard: start in high school, star in college, play in the NFL as long as possible.

It doesn't often include playing daytime June games in the United States Football League at UAB's stadium. Still, two teams were on the field, 22 players fighting for their football lives.

It made sense why the New Orleans Breakers were going for two.

Playing June 12 with a chance to clinch a spot in the inaugural playoffs of the new USFL, the Breakers opted to try and complete a pass into the end zone of Protective Stadium in Birmingham to take a 17-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Bandits in the second quarter.

As quarterback Kyle Sloter dropped back to look for a target, Breakers right tackle and former Missouri captain Paul Adams found himself with nobody to block as the Bandits brought a limited rush. As Sloter delivered a pass toward the goal line, Adams zeroed in on Tampa Bay defensive tackle John Atkins, who was trying to come off the guard and swat down the ball.

Before he had the chance, Adams struck. The Nashville, Tennessee, native, who started for four seasons at MU, hit Atkins high up as he attempted to defend the pass.

Adams negated the threat, flattening Atkins against the artificial turf. Sloter's pass was complete, helping the Breakers cement their spot in the USFL semifinals, which begin Saturday in Canton, Ohio.

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After graduating from Missouri and going undrafted in 2019, Adams bounced around various NFL teams and their practice squads but never stuck. He never stepped on the field for a regular-season game.

The young league represents an opportunity to audition for another NFL spot. If that doesn't work out, it means another chance to keep playing football and end on a high note if the experience concludes his career.

“There’s a greater purpose for me,” Adams said. “Whether I do get a call or whether I don’t. I know I can just use all of these experiences and build off of it, become a better man and person afterwards.”

'The purest form'

Visitors to Christ Presbyterian Academy, off Old Hickory Boulevard in Nashville near the Williamson County line and Percy Warner State Park, will turn onto a speed-bump-pocked section of Chickering Road.

To the inside of the loop are academic and church buildings. On the outside, CPA’s football stadium.

Next to that is the team’s practice field, separated from the road by a black wooden fence. The Lions play in Tennessee’s Division II-AA and have won five state championships through the years, three since 2014.

For the first three years of his pro football career, Adams regularly found himself at the field.

Adams played at CPA from 2010 to 2013, growing from a skinny basketball player to one of the best offensive linemen in the state throughout his time as a Lion. He left an impression on the program as a rare athletic talent and Mr. Football winner who loved his teammates and friends.

“A lot of people let that stuff go to their head,” CPA head coach Ingle Martin said. “Paul, he always prioritizes his relationships over his accomplishments."

Adams, who grew up in Nashville’s Bellevue neighborhood, found himself back in familiar surroundings at CPA after being cut by the team now known as the Washington Commanders in 2020.

Without other football prospects at the time, Adams was back to help coach the Lions.

At the same time, he was struggling. Getting cut dealt a serious blow, and he was unsure he wanted to continue what was feeling like a fruitless career in pro football.

"I kind of just had to flip a switch in my head,” Adams said. “Like, if you don’t love this, then don’t continue doing this. Because what’s the point in being miserable throughout all of this process? Because your girlfriend’s going to be miserable, family’s going to be miserable. If you’re not going to be happy doing it, no one’s going to be happy.”

Adams would have a sympathetic ear while back at his alma mater. Martin played in the NFL as a quarterback for the Titans and Packers among others, and he knew the feeling of being cut.

Martin could attest to how harsh the transition to the NFL can be, given that most players have spent the previous stages of their careers as one of the top performers on their teams.

"I was fired four times my first four years out of college,” Martin said. “I was actually fired by two teams in one year. When I say 'fired,' everyone else, they call it 'cut,' but you’re getting fired. When someone tells you you’re not good enough, that’s a hard pill to swallow.”

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Adams had helped out with the Lions before. As a CPA alum, he remained involved with the program and coached when he could.

According to Martin, who coached Adams from his sophomore year at CPA onward, everyone around the program adored the tackle, from the students up to the administration. Adams felt similarly and went to work, just as he had throughout his career when he was between teams, helping wherever he could.

For the “seven or eight” weeks he spent with CPA, Adams soaked it all in. He watched the young players enjoy the game at a lower level and eventually found a sense of peace.

“It took a while because there was a lot of hatred built up for the sport in general,” Adams said. “But I know it’s a sport that I want to be a part of for as long as I possibly can.”

When he left, the team had a party, celebrating his signing. He wouldn’t be going far.

"The purest form of football, the kids literally just love that stuff,” Adams said of his time back at his high school alma mater. “Seeing that, I was just like, ‘I wanted to get back to that so bad.’”

'A dream come true'

The Tennessee Titans, then known as the Oilers, moved to Nashville for the 1998 season, following one year in Memphis and decades in Houston.

After a season spent not filling Vanderbilt Stadium, they moved into the brand-new Adelphia Coliseum (now Nissan Stadium) and immediately made a Super Bowl run.

Adams watched all of it happen, attending the playoff win over the Buffalo Bills now known as the "Music City Miracle" game, where fullback Lorenzo Neal caught a kickoff and handed the ball to Frank Wycheck. The Titans tight end threw it across the field to Kevin Dyson, who raced up the sideline untouched to win the game in the waning seconds.

The Titans never made it back to the Super Bowl after losing to the St. Louis Rams, but remained an enormous presence to a young sports fan in a growing city, showcasing stars such as Steve McNair and Eddie George in the early years before Vince Young and Chris Johnson made a name for themselves later.

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After following all of it, even wearing No. 77 at Missouri in honor of Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan, Adams found himself in a fantasy scenario. The Titans signed him before the 2020 season and kept him around on the practice squad.

For the time being, Adams was part of his favorite childhood team.

"If I were to tell 5-year-old Paul Adams that at any point in his career, in life, that he was going to put on that Titans helmet, whether it was practice squad, even the preseason games that I got in, there’s no chance that he would believe me,” Adams said. “That was definitely a dream come true.”

The hometown tackle soaked in information throughout his time with the Titans. He learned to be a professional, taking lessons from Ben Jones and Roger Saffold among others while taking practice reps on the field at St. Thomas Sports Park.

Adams was following in the footsteps of his high school coach. Martin had also been a Nashville-area prep standout at Montgomery Bell Academy before playing his college football at Florida and Furman.

Martin said being home was a wonderful experience, but not as important as the NFL dream.

“I lived with my in-laws, Paul got to hang out and spend a lot of time with his mom and brother,” Martin said. "That’s the best part about being in your home city. But now if the Patriots pick up Paul or the Chargers or whoever, Paul’s going to be just as excited.”

After the 2020 season, Adams returned to the Titans organization. However, in the second preseason game of 2021 against the Buccaneers at Nissan Stadium, disaster struck.

Adams suffered a partial tear of the UCL in his right elbow, effectively ending his time with the team. He bounced around a bit after that, continuing to rehab from the injury, but was looking for a new situation entering 2022.

Then, Adams’ agent Billy Conaty approached him with an idea. Something new was coming.

'You get a chance to play'

“Are you ready?”

Adams recognized the voice coming through his phone but couldn’t quite place it. Still, he had been expecting a call.

He sat in Nashville at his mother’s house with his brother and girlfriend in the room. The USFL Draft was going on, the New Orleans Breakers were on the clock and Adams thought it might be his time, given the Breakers had asked for his game tape ahead of the event.

He was correct. On the other end of the line was Pat Washington, the team’s wide receivers coach, who had also recruited Adams to Missouri as part of Gary Pinkel’s staff.

The Breakers took Adams with the fourth pick in the fifth round of the draft. He became the team’s starting right tackle, the position he played during his time at Missouri.

The USFL played all of its regular-season games in Birmingham for its inaugural season as a cost-saving measure, despite naming the teams for eight different cities. After Conaty suggested the spring league as a possible option for him, Adams had some reservations.

His caution was warranted. The Alliance of American Football and the XFL, two other spring professional football leagues, notably failed in recent years.

“I don’t want to go there for five weeks and have them hit you with the, ‘It’s not going as planned,’” Adams said.

Despite his questions, he ultimately decided to enter the league. He also sought advice from Martin once again.

His former coach had ended his football career on a two-year stint with the New York Sentinels of the now-defunct United Football League. He told Adams he should give it a try, noting that if nothing else, the USFL represented another chance to play football.

“You get a chance to go play,” Martin recalled telling his former player. “You could still get paid to play the game and you get to actually be a part of the games.”

Adams has done just that with the Breakers. He has started all 10 Breakers games this season and helped power the team into the USFL semifinals, where they will take on the Birmingham Stallions on Saturday.

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Along the way, Adams rediscovered something he had lost: confidence.

After spending three years bouncing around practice squads and never seeing the field, he was back in the starting lineup and getting reps in game situations.

“That feels awesome for me,” Adams said. “For a while there was kind of a void in my life, like, ‘I’m just a practice squad guy,’ which, there’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone needs one, everyone has one, but I’ve got expectations for myself and I’ve got a standard and it’s a lot higher than that, so something like this is just awesome for me.”

Birmingham wasn’t too far from his home in Nashville. In fact, Alabama’s capital was home to both sets of his grandparents, so he had a place to stay throughout his time in the league.

Each of the USFL’s 10 teams got paired with another at practice spaces across the Birmingham area, with games being played mostly at Protective Stadium, though some took place at decrepit Legion Field. Adams and the Breakers shared a facility at Samford University with the Houston Gamblers.

Even for the players, the city names were confusing given the location of every game.

"We should just all be Birmingham, just different names and then everyone supports everyone,” Adams said of the teams, named for the original USFL franchises from the league that played under the same name from 1983-85. “Why not that? It definitely is weird.”

Confused or not, Adams and the Breakers have had a solid campaign. They finished the regular season 6-4 to make the semifinals.

For the players in the league, the season has been an opportunity to build game tape and give NFL teams something to look at with training camp approaching.

"There's a hunger there that I think is one of the themes of the league," Breakers offensive line coach Jim Turner said. "...You're playing against the guy who's trying to beat the hell out of you. He's fighting for his own life."

Turner also pointed out that Adams got a chance to try new things in the USFL. He has been the Breakers regular starting right tackle, but also played at right guard, where he performed well.

According to Turner, who said he was confident Adams could switch to the left side of the offensive line on the fly and still do a stellar job, that kind of experience will help the former MU standout remain on the NFL's radar.

"You don't have to say a lot for him to understand what you're doing in a scheme," Turner said. "He understands the game, he understands his body and he understands how to make that body work in our offense against the person he's trying to block, so I've been nothing but impressed by him."

So what's next for Adams? He now has the film to show NFL teams what he can be as a football player if given the opportunity.

His current coach was bullish on that chance coming.

"He's definitely going to be on people's radars," Turner said. "I would find it hard to believe that he wouldn't get invited to another camp."

If not, his future still looks bright. His old coach suggested he could be an asset to the Missouri athletic department, whether building relationships with former players or helping raise money.

“We need to get Columbia, Missouri, people excited about having Paul back up there,” Martin said. “But there’s a lot of people in Nashville who would be excited about having him here, so let the bidding begin whenever that career ends.”

Whether it works out for him as a player or not, Adams plans on staying involved with football. He’s already begun training young players back in Nashville.

That experience has further changed his perspective on the game.

“That’s something I love so much because you get to see someone evolve over a period of time,” Adams said. “That’s been so fun for me as well. I can’t wait to get back to Nashville and continue helping the kids.”

Matt Stahl is the Missouri athletics beat reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @mattstahl97.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Former Mizzou football captain Paul Adams finds pro home in USFL