Did the Giants Get What They Paid for in Paulson Adebo?

The New York Giants ended up with a completely different set of starting cornerbacks last season, starting with free-agent acquisition Paulson Adebo.

Adebo, who came over from the New Orleans Saints, was brought in to take some of the pressure off Deonte Banks, the team’s struggling 2023 first-round draft pick who had been primarily assigned the season before to the opponent’s No. 1 receiver with little success.

Adebo might not have been a clear-cut shutdown cornerback, but he was a marked improvement. He plays with a stickiness in coverage, having not let much get behind him. He is also versatile enough to excel in man or zone coverage.

The problem, though, is that the injury bug got him again, though overall his 2025 season was far better than what the Giants had gotten in recent years.

PAULSON ADEBO, CB

Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 191 lbs.
Exp.: # Year(s) or R (if rookie)
School: Stanford
How Acquired: FA-25

2025 in Review

The Giants signed Adebo from the Saints with an eye toward him becoming their CB1. Adebo, who had seen his previous season end prematurely due to a broken femur, proved to be healthy enough to roll and, in fact, was routinely assigned the opponent’s best receiver.

After primarily playing most of his snaps at left cornerback with the Saints, the Giants had him travel with the opponent’s top receiver. Adebo, per PFF, spent 422 snaps at left cornerback and 242 at right cornerback.

In coverage, Adebo fared slightly better playing on the right side, recording 24 tackles and five pass breakups on that side versus 27 tackles and two pass breakups on the left according to PFF and league data.

Adebo’s deep ball coverage was just fine, though he did give up a lot of underneath stuff. He finished having allowed a career-low 11.1 yards per reception.

Adebo missed five games due to a knee injury, which, even after he returned from it, clearly slowed him down as he went from averaging 6.71 tackles per game to 3.6 tackles per game.

Overall, while it wasn’t a bad first year for the 26-year-old, the Giants probably would have gotten more bang for their buck, including a little more physical play from the guy they likely view as their CB1.

Contract/Cap Info

Paulson Adebo signed a three-year, $54 million contract with $38.5 million guaranteed. He has a $24.199 million cap hit for 2026, which includes $17.25 million (his 2026 base salary) fully guaranteed, meaning Adebo is in no danger of being cut this year since he wouldn’t yield any savings.

Next year, Adebo has a $20.317 million cap figure, including a $10.25 million base salary and a $3 million roster bonus due March 17.

2026 Preview

Dec 28, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; New York Giants cornerback Paulson Adebo (21) looks on during the second half against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

There was good and bad to Adebo’s game last year.

The good included his play in run defense. Adebo led all Giants cornerbacks with 20 tackles in run support, which also put him 19th out of 48 cornerbacks who played a minimum of 700 defensive snaps; his 6.9% tackle rate against running plays ranked 13th among cornerbacks, according to PFF data.

Adebo doesn’t appear to be in danger of losing his job given the depth–or should we say lack of depth–at the cornerback position.

While he wasn’t always the most physical cornerback out there–and again that could have been due to his knee injury–he was better than what the Giants fielded the year prior.

That said, he needs to stay on the field. Adebo hasn’t played a full season since his rookie campaign in 2021.

While statistically speaking, the 2021 season wasn’t his career best, being productive starts with being available, which has been a career-long problem for the former Stanford standout.

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