Anthony Rivardo
Paulson Adebo had a solid stretch of practice at Giants OTAs and minicamp this spring. He added several interceptions over the Giants’ three-day minicamp session, helping to give the Giants’ defense a takeaway streak it rarely produced a year ago.
That snapshot carries weight because Adebo’s first Giants season never looked like this. A leg injury cut it short, the splash plays dried up, and a secondary built on big money got middling returns. The spring version of Adebo is the one Big Blue needs this season.
A Debut Season Swallowed by Injury
Adebo signed a three-year, $54 million contract with $34.75 million guaranteed in March 2025, a deal that made him the 14th-highest-paid cornerback in the league and the centerpiece of the Giants’ coverage rebuild. The production did not match the price.
PFF charted his 2025 coverage grade at 57.9, 77th among 114 qualified corners, with his run-defense grade close behind at 56.8. He finished with one interception and five pass breakups, a thin line for a player brought in to take the ball away.
Adebo broke his femur in Week 7 of 2024 with the Saints, ending that season after seven games, and that injury history trailed him straight into his Giants debut. In 2025, Adebo looked like a player still finding his legs rather than a bust, and the team’s minicamp practice report noted he has looked more like his old self this spring. A huge, positive sign as New York gets ready for training camp this summer.
The New Orleans Tape Is the Real Standard
Two years removed, the version the Giants thought they signed posted real ball production. Adebo started 15 games for the Saints in 2023, racked up 76 tackles and 18 pass breakups (third-most in the NFL that season), and pulled in four interceptions, including a two-pick game against the Bears that earned him NFC Defensive Player of the Week. That is the ball-hawk blueprint the Giants paid a premium price for.
His healthy peak against his injury-marred Giants debut shows how far the 2025 tape fell and explains why three days of spring interceptions drew this much attention.
| Season | Interceptions | Pass breakups |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 (Saints) | 4 | 18 (3rd in NFL) |
| 2025 (Giants) | 1 | 5 |
The Cap Sheet Raises the Stakes
Adebo’s 2026 cap charge jumps to roughly $23 million, with a $17.25 million base salary fully guaranteed, via Spotrac. That is genuine CB1 money on a defense that has already poured resources into the back end, from Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin at safety to a 2023 first-rounder in Deonte Banks, whose fifth-year option the team declined. With Banks’ future uncertain and the safety investments still under the microscope, the secondary needs Adebo to be a stabilizer rather than another question.
John Harbaugh’s staff, led by new DC Dennard Wilson, will be running a press-heavy scheme that asks corners to win at the line and trust their leverage, a fit that suits Adebo’s length when he is healthy. The spring interceptions came against a passing game with a returning Jaxson Dart, so the competition was live rather than scripted walkthrough reps.
What the Spring Actually Buys
Minicamp picks do not count in September, and a corner’s value gets decided by 17 weeks of coverage snaps, not three days in shells. The signs still point in the right direction. Adebo is healthy, attacking the ball, and looking like the player who led the NFL’s secondary in pass breakups two years ago instead of the one who limped through 2025. For a defense paying him like a No. 1 corner, that is the version the season needs to see. The healthy Adebo is the only one worth $23 million.
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