The Saints’ decision to move on from Paulson Adebo is looking a whole lot better now.
New Orleans drafted the Stanford cornerback in the third round with hopes he could help strengthen the secondary, and he flashed that promise quickly. As a rookie in 2021, Adebo picked off three passes and broke up eight more, enough to make the pick look like a solid one.
But once his contract situation came up, the Saints were never in position to keep him for the kind of money he eventually landed. Adebo left for the New York Giants in 2025 on a three-year, $54 million deal, a price tag New Orleans was never going to match.
That move has not worked out cleanly in New York. In his first season with the Giants, Adebo had trouble in coverage and was widely seen as a disappointing addition. That alone made the Saints’ choice to let him walk look pretty wise.
Now the picture has gotten even worse for Adebo. Heading into a key second season with the Giants, he is set to make $18 million this year but is not listed as a starter on New York’s Week 1 depth chart.
Jason Kandel of GMEN HQ, FanSided’s Giants site, noted that Giants head coach John Harbaugh is not concerned with salary when deciding who plays. He wrote, “Adebo will still have every opportunity to change that once the games actually count. But for a player making $18 million per year who was supposed to cement himself as the Giants’ long-term CB1, opening Week 1 behind Banks and Greg Newsome II is about as loud a message as Harbaugh could send without saying a word.”
That’s the blunt reality for Adebo right now: the money is there, but the starting job is not.
For Saints fans, it stings a little less now. They were disappointed to see a player they liked leave, but after the way things have gone in New York, New Orleans looks like it made the right call.
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