Jamal Adams said tackling the Patriots mascot on Wednesday was all just in good fun, but the Jets safety added he was told the mascot is now in the hospital.
While the NFL has not yet confirmed this claim, a Patriots spokesperson told CBS Boston the tackle was not staged and that the mascot was "sore."
Adams says the league office is mad at him over the incident.
"He was running around and everybody was booing him, so I said, 'You know what? Let me go tackle him," Adams said, per ESPN's Michael DiRocco. "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, but they did tell me he's in the hospital. My intention was never to hurt him."
Adams was signing autographs at the Pro Bowl festivities in Orlando when he abruptly stopped and said "I'm finna go knock this mascot out."
Patriots mascot is no match for a Jamal Adams hit stick 😂😂pic.twitter.com/QUgZcBHhsD
- SNY (@SNYtv) January 23, 2019
The safety ran down the sideline and tackled the mascot to a mixed reaction of cheers and boos while other AFC teammates were laughing and high-fiving Adams.
"It was all about just a joke but I definitely want to check on him and make sure everything is good," he said. "At the end of the day we were out here just having fun and it wasn't nothing intentionally to try to hurt that guy."
Despite Adams' claim that the mascot was hospitalized, he added one more thing to ESPN's Dianna Russini.
"Do I regret it? Noooooooo."