SerpApi.Org
Paulson Adebo will open training camp on July 28 as the highest-paid cornerback on the New York Giants roster and the biggest unanswered question in their secondary. New York handed him a three-year, $54 million contract in March 2025, then watched him turn in the least productive coverage season of his career.
The Giants rebuilt this cornerback room around Adebo, and the 2025 tape did not match the paycheck. His first year in blue produced one interception and a 92.0 passer rating allowed, the kind of number a front office pays a premium price to erase.
A $54 million deal and a 92.0 passer rating allowed
Adebo’s deal carries an $18 million average annual value and a $24.2 million cap hit in 2026, top-of-market money for an outside corner.
Per PFF, he graded just 58.4 overall in 2025, 74th among 114 qualified cornerbacks, with a 57.9 coverage grade. Quarterbacks completed 48 passes against him and posted that 92.0 passer rating when they threw his way. For a defense paying a premium price for a No. 1 corner, that is league-average coverage at an elite salary.
What the Giants thought they were signing
Adebo earned this contract on the strength of his 2023 season in New Orleans, and that version was genuinely excellent.
He totaled four interceptions and 18 passes defensed across 15 starts that year, and PFF’s 80.5 coverage grade ranked 15th among all corners. A season-ending right leg injury wiped out most of his 2024 walk year after seven games, though he still snagged three interceptions in that limited sample before the Giants bet on the bounce-back.
His passer rating allowed climbed from 69.9 in his last full season to 92.0 in 2025, and his takeaways fell from four to one. That is the trend line the Giants have to reverse. Some of it traces to a defense that asked him to travel with No. 1 receivers, but New York is not paying $18 million a year for context. It is paying for the ball-hawk blueprint that produced 19 forced incompletions two years ago.
The secondary can’t cover for him
The Giants spent the offseason reshaping the cornerback room around Adebo, which raises the stakes on his play rather than lowering them. The projected top of the depth chart pairs him with Greg Newsome II and slot corner Dru Phillips, with 2023 first-rounder Deonte Banks fighting for snaps after grading 112th of 114 corners a year ago. None of those names is a settled lockdown answer, which means the structural infrastructure of this pass defense runs through Adebo playing like the corner New Orleans developed.
A prove-it year with the rebuild attached
Adebo sits on a contract that gives the Giants a real out after the 2026 season, which turns camp into an audition even for a highly paid veteran. Dennard Wilson’s defense needs its top corner to travel, take the ball away, and drag the passer rating allowed back under 80. The talent that produced a top-15 coverage season is only two years old and still on the roster. It is time for Adebo to prove the Giants paid for the player, not the memory.
Want to see more exclusive sports content like this? Follow Empire Sports Media on MSN.
Related Headlines
