Paulson Adebo was carted off the Superdome field with a broken femur last October. Now he's going back for first time with Giants in Sunday's game.
EAST RUTHERFORD - It's the loneliest ride in the NFL and New York Giants cornerback Paulson Adebo prefers to not dwell much on the last time he was in uniform inside Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
On that Thursday night last October, Adebo was taken from the field on a cart. His entire right leg was in a vacuum splint, and soon after the 26-year-old was exiting the building in the back of an ambulance.
Adebo had fractured his femur - the thigh bone, the longest and strongest in the body - and the injury required immediate surgery. His final season as a Saint - in a contract year, no less - was over.
"I'm a big picture thinker, and I try to keep everything in perspective," Adebo told NorthJersey.com and The Record at his locker following Wednesday's practice, quietly letting the thoughts slip from his mind one phrase at a time. "To go back to that moment, in a split second, it's like, season's over for me. You're in pain. Then the focus shifts to, what is the injury? What is the recovery? You know you've got a journey ahead of you, but right away it's on to the next chapter because you've got a comeback story to tell."
Adebo remembers being on his cell phone on the way to the hospital, trying to keep up with the "Thursday Night Football" play-by-play of the Saints' eventual 33-10 loss to the Broncos.
It was in the second quarter when running back Javonte Williams, then of the Broncos, caught a screen pass and worked his way up the sideline before then-Saints teammate Jordan Howden got in position to make the tackle.
A hustling Adebo also stayed in pursuit, racing from the opposite side of the field to help finish off the play, only to have his right leg whipped in the collision and immediately buckle.
Just like that, Adebo was surrounded by a crowd of medical professionals, coaches and teammates; and the next thing he knew, he was out.
"Your goals shift," Adebo said. "Obviously, in season, we have goals as a team: win as many games as we can, obviously to get to the playoffs and the final one that everyone plays for. Then, when you have an injury like that, the goals kinda shift - you go from the team goal to a singular goal of, how fast can I recover? Whatever resources you can get, the priority goes toward that."
Had he not gotten injured, Adebo appeared to be on the verge of becoming one of the breakout defensive backs in the entire NFL. He ended up signing a three-year, $54 million contract with the Giants, who were intent on shopping at the top of the market with a desire to find a No. 1 cornerback.
"I'm fairly present-minded," Adebo said. "I don't think it's a matter where I don't want to relive it. It's not like the boogeyman or something. Maybe for some people it's like that. When you get hurt and you leave the field, the game goes on."
Adebo led the NFL in forced incompletions the past two seasons, starting in all but one of 52 games in the last four years. With 10 interceptions and 43 passes defensed, his reputation as a player with tremendous ball skills was validated.
Adebo has played every one of the Giants' 294 defensive snaps this season, and he showed in Week 1 against Washington that he could travel with star receivers if needed, as he did with Terry McLaurin.
The Giants are riding the momentum of picking up their first victory in Jaxson Dart's starting debut, and now they'll head to the Superdome looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since late in the 2023 season when then-rookie Tommy DeVito took over at quarterback.
On the flip side, the Saints will start Spencer Rattler, who - in praising the Giants' defensive front - may have taken a not-so-veiled shot at the secondary of which his former teammate is now a leader.
"Really good front, probably one of the best in the league. We’ve gotta have a good plan for them," Rattler told reporters in New Orleans. "A lot of speed, a lot of power. On the back end, they don’t do as much as we’ve seen from these other teams, disguise-wise. They’ve got their wrinkles and everything, and they run what they do well."
The assignment for Adebo could be to travel with Chris Olave, but the Saints also feature speedy Rashid Shaheed.
“I went up against those guys every day in practice for a couple years, great receivers,” Adebo said. “Rattler, great arm talent. Can make all throws. Journey of a second-year quarterback still trying to fine-tune some things, but definitely has a lot of potential.”
The Giants had two interceptions (Dru Phillips and Dexter Lawrence) and 20 quarterback pressures from Abdul Carter, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux against Justin Herbert in their 21-18 victory over the previously-undefeated Chargers. The Giants and Saints have played some wild ones in the Superdome, including the 52-49 Saints win in 2015 during which Drew Brees and Eli Manning combined for 13 touchdown passes and the Giants' 27-21 overtime thriller in 2021.
As for any emotions attached to this football homecoming, Adebo promises his focus will be on the task at hand: figuring out how to keep the Saints winless by getting the Giants to 2-3.
"Maybe when I go back out there, it'll feel like a full circle moment and I'll appreciate what it took to get back here," Adebo said. "But then you're like, [snaps fingers], it's gone and it's time to play."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Inside Giants CB Paulson Adebo's comeback story in New Orleans return
Category: Football
