Why NY Giants CB Paulson Adebo Will Increase His 2025 Interceptions Total

Last season, the New York Giants were owners of some of the most glaring roster holes across the NFL. One of the position groups that stood out as a major weakness of the team was the defensive secondary, which was marred by a mix of youth and injuries.

The unit, which saw significant improvement during the 2023 season to rank 18th in coverage grade, experienced a major decline as the Giants had one of their toughest years in recent memory in 2024.

They slid back down to 28th overall with a shameful 52.9 team coverage grade and were often a launching pad for opposing offenses to unleash the football to their elite targets.

One of the secondary’s biggest issues was that they couldn’t find ways to get their hands on the football and disturb their opponent’s plays with turnovers. The Giants finished 28th in the league in forced turnovers last season and were 31st in interceptions (five).

The Giants also had just four players between the cornerbacks and safeties collect more than four pass deflections in that span. The best player, perimeter cornerback Deonte Banks, had eight interceptions, but he still led one of the worst coverage campaigns on the entire team for a former first-round selection.

Among his top priorities for this offseason, general manager Joe Schoen had to bring in a veteran pass disruptor as part of revamping the secondary to compete this season.

He answered the call by signing former New Orleans Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo, who was one of the most aggressive ballhawks in the league and will bring his talents to the Giants’ No. 1 corner spot.

In the last two seasons with the Saints, Adebo has led the NFL with 18 total pass deflections, while also stealing seven interceptions and allowing only two touchdowns in his vicinity. He also recorded a sub-60% opponent completion rate for the second consecutive year and a passer rating under 69.9 when targeted.

Adebo was in a slightly better secondary than the one he joined in New York, as the Saints ranked 24th in coverage grade last season.

However, he didn’t have the same level of talent in one separate element that the Giants defense will boast in 2025, which could have limited his potential in snatching away the football in the air.

Once he gets out on the field and paired with that factor this season, we believe that Adebo will have a career-high campaign as a turnover specialist in the interceptions column.

Can Adebo Ride the Coattails of the Giants’ Elite Pass Rush?

Paulson Adebo with the NY Giants | Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For the Giants to be a successful team that hangs around with the rest of the league, their defensive secondary, albeit a young one, needs to get better at holding more of their weight against good opposing targets in the passing game.

Inexperienced players will still fill most of the starter roles at the third level, so having a veteran presence like Adebo’s should help mentor them. The 25-year-old has been one of the better cornerbacks when it comes to pressuring the football and disrupting a receiver’s routes in press coverage, and he can help elevate the aggressiveness of the unit.

That said, Adebo wasn’t too shabby on the other side in zone coverage either, and that was with a Saints defense that was one of the worst at getting pressure on the quarterback’s throwing lanes. New Orleans ranked 30th (31%) in pass rush win rate last season, which was a notable distinction from the Giants, who finished in the top half of the NFL in 13th place.

Sometimes, one of the biggest factors in boosting the confidence of a younger secondary can be an elite defensive front that gets the initial disruption on the passing play and doesn’t leave the back end feeling like they’re alone on an island protecting the endzone.

That’s where battle-tested receivers can smell blood in the water and get the defender to fall victim to mistakes that leave them wide open.

Luckily, the Giants are set to boast an impressive pass rush this season, with four talented pieces in Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Dexter Lawrence II, whom they expect to get on the field all at once at certain times when the game calls for it.

It’s going to be very hard, if not impossible, to stop all of them on one protection, meaning one or two guys might put that heat on the quarterback and trick him into making a risky throw down the field for his trusty receiver. For a keen ballhawk like Adebo, that’s going to play right into his wheelhouse.

Adebo is likely to be matched up against the opponent’s top receiving threat on most plays every week, and we could see a lot of press-man looks from him to throw the target off balance.

Those one-on-one matchups, if paired with some solid effort in the pass rush, can create situations when there is a weak ball chucked and an ensuing frenzy to come back for it.

If Adebo plays it right and gets the correct leverage on the matchup, he could earn extra opportunities to pad his stats in the interceptions column by snatching the football and taking it the other way.

He did it three times last season with the Saints, but that was only in a limited season for the veteran due to a femur injury he sustained in Week 7 that ended his year.

Just watch any successful defense in recent seasons, and one will see that the prelude to forcing timely turnovers is getting pressure on the quarterback. The Giants need to pair these two things together in 2025 after they only poached five picks last season for one of their lowest totals in recent years.

The good news is they’ve been building their defense around that this offseason, and it should pay dividends for Adebo, if he remains healthy, as well as the rest of the secondary. He’s assuming the top role in the secondary, and his resume must better reflect that if the Giants are going to win more games via the strength of their defense.

Can Adebo Ride the Coattails of the Giants’ Elite Pass Rush?

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