The Giants entered training camp with real reasons for optimism. The pass rush has the kind of talent that can wreck a game.
The receiving group around Jaxson Dart has been upgraded. Even the middle linebacker situation, after a full offseason overhaul, looks like it may finally be sorted out.
But for all that buzz, one problem keeps looming larger than the rest: Paulson Adebo.
New York made Adebo its top free-agent priority last offseason, handing him a three-year, $54 million deal to be the team’s CB1. That was a hefty bet on a corner who had never reached the Pro Bowl and was coming off a brutal season-ending leg injury that cost him the final 10 games of the year.
The first season in North Jersey didn’t do much to calm anyone down. Adebo posted a 58.4 overall PFF grade, which ranked 74th out of 114 eligible corners, and his 57.9 coverage grade was even lower, checking in 76th.
Some of that can be chalked up to the long road back from injury. Some of it came from a new assignment, with Adebo asked to trail the opponent’s top receiver all over the field instead of sticking to the left side the way he did with the Saints.
Still, the bigger issue is simple: he never really looked like himself.
That’s why the early camp reports matter so much. The Athletic’s Dan Duggan flagged Adebo in his Day 1 takeaways, and the tone around the cornerback is already uneasy. After a season that fell flat, the start of Year 2 hasn’t offered much reassurance.
And the Giants can’t afford for this to become a bigger problem, because the cornerback room is being held together by hope. Adebo is trying to bounce back.
Greg Newsome is on a one-year deal and looking for a career reset. Deonte Banks is trying to salvage what once looked like a promising future.
Rookie Colton Hood is hoping his physical style can help steady the group.
That’s a lot of uncertainty for a defense that needs stability on the back end. New York paid Adebo to be a lockdown No. 1 corner, not to leave the staff holding its breath in the first week of camp. If he doesn’t rebound, all the offseason optimism around this team starts to look awfully fragile.
In Other News...
Giants Suddenly Have A Receiver Trade Question They Cant Ignore
The Giants receiver room has quietly become one of the more interesting roster puzzles on the team. Five wideouts are already 29 or older, and none of them is under contract beyond this season, which makes the group look less like a long-term plan and more like a short-term patchwork. For a team trying to build around its passing game, that kind of uncertainty tends to force the front office to start looking ahead before the market gets away from it.
One name to watch is a young Cleveland receiver who is heading into the final year of his rookie deal and has already shown enough through 38 games to look like a useful piece rather than a pure projection. He has put together a solid early career line and could fit the kind of age-and-timeline reset the Giants may need, especially if they decide to get aggressive about adding a receiver with some runway left. The tricky part is figuring out what kind of trade price makes sense, and whether New York is willing to part with a receiver of its own to make the move happen. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Camp Tension Rose Fast Between Abdul Carter And Andrew Thomas
A lively camp rep between rookie pass rusher Abdul Carter and All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas gave Giants practice a little extra edge, and it was easy to see why. Carter showed the speed and burst that made him such an intriguing addition, and he kept finding ways to test one of the leagues most reliable blind-side protectors in a setting where every snap gets watched a little closer.
Thomas, meanwhile, handled the back-and-forth with the kind of poise the Giants have come to expect from him. He didnt bite on Carters trash talk and kept his focus on staying composed, a reminder that the veteran side of the matchup can matter just as much as the flash of a rookie making noise in camp. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Camp Addition Just Pushed One Young Defender Out
The Giants are still shuffling pieces at training camp as they try to balance a crowded defensive line with a thinner linebacker group. After bringing in a linebacker for a workout and liking what they saw, the team made room on the 90-man roster by moving on from an undrafted rookie defensive lineman, another reminder that the back end of camp is often as much about fit as it is about talent.
For New York, the move points to a clear need to reinforce the off-ball linebacker spot behind Tremaine Edmunds, where the depth chart remains light and young. It also shows how quickly a promising camp audition can change a players standing, even when the roster squeeze is coming from a different position group entirely. [Read more 🡒]