How much money and draft capital can a front office set on fire before someone finally takes away the matchbook?
That is the question haunting the New York Giants right now as they stare at a secondary that looks less like a professional defensive unit and more like a crime scene. General Manager Joe Schoen is finding out the hard way that you cannot simply buy a culture or patch over poor development with a checkbook. The situation with Deonte Banks and the subsequent panic signing of Paulson Adebo is a perfect case study in how a franchise loses its way.
We are watching a systemic failure in real time.
Drafting a Square Peg for a Round Hole
The tragedy of Deonte Banks is that the kid actually has talent. When the Giants selected him 25th overall back in 2023, the logic was sound because he was drafted to play in Wink Martindale’s aggressive, man-heavy scheme. He was a Maryland product built to press receivers at the line of scrimmage and live on an island.
Then the scheme changed.
Under Shane Bowen, the defense shifted philosophies, and Banks looked completely lost at sea. It does not matter that Bowen has recently been shown the door; the developmental damage is already done. Banks has been shredded to pieces this season. We are talking about 270 yards and three touchdowns allowed on just 226 coverage snaps. He has managed exactly one pass breakup in that span.
When a first-round pick gets benched in his third year, it isn’t just a player failure. It is an organizational indictment. The New York Giants took a premium asset and put him in a position to fail by constantly shifting the defensive identity. Now the 24-year-old looks like a distressed asset who might need a change of scenery just to salvage his career.
The Expensive and Ineffective Band-Aid
Instead of fixing the developmental pipeline, Schoen tried to spend his way out of the problem. He threw a massive three-year, $54 million contract at Paulson Adebo in free agency. The theory was that a high-priced veteran would stabilize the room while the kids figured it out.
The reality has been a disaster.
Mercenary signings are always a gamble because you never know how a guy will fit once he secures the bag. Adebo has barely been on the field, and when he has played, the results have been ugly. In just seven appearances, he has coughed up 352 yards and a touchdown. The Giants are getting carved up whether it is the expensive veteran or the struggling draft pick on the field.
The Escape Hatch is Already Visible
There is a silver lining here, but it is the kind that only accountants care about. The front office, perhaps sensing the volatility of the move, built an eject button into Adebo’s deal.
While the contract looks heavy on the surface, the New York Giants have a realistic out after the 2026 season. If they cut ties then, they eat $6.3 million in dead money. That stings, but it is far better than swallowing a $20.3 million salary cap hit in 2027 for a cornerback who isn’t performing.
Unless Adebo pulls a miraculous turnaround in 2026, you can almost guarantee the Giants will take that out. It is essentially an admission of failure, but smart teams know when to cut their losses. Joe Schoen has spent years trying to build a secondary from scratch, yet here we are, looking at a unit that is expensive, underperforming, and relying on players who simply don’t fit the vision. You can survive a bad draft pick, and you can survive a bad free agent contract, but you rarely survive doing both at the same position at the same time.
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