Paulson Adebo's name has been said early and often throughout Saints camp as likely the biggest standout performer.
But it wasn't until the final day of full team practice before the preseason finale that the second-year cornerback landed his highest praise yet, and this came from veteran safety and new teammate Tyrann Mathieu.
Mathieu was asked what some of the things are that Adebo does particularly well. The answer: "He does everything well."
"I’ve been around some of the best cornerbacks in the world and he reminds me of them, from his preparation," Mathieu continued. "Obviously he’s not Patrick Peterson as far as the athlete, but the preparation, the attention to detail, just understanding the scheme. He’s what you want in a cornerback.”
It only took Mathieu a matter of weeks to come to that conclusion, and it's been clear to anyone watching that the Saints appear to have found something special in the third-round pick from last season. He's played well enough that Bradley Roby, a starting-caliber player whom the Saints traded for prior to last season, doesn't really feel like a contender to start on the outside this season.
Related
But it's the tandem Adebo will form across from Marshon Lattimore, and with CJ Gardner-Johnson manning the slot, that makes this season's defense feel particularly dangerous. The former Stanford Cardinal started all 17 games in his rookie season and played well despite battling a tough NFL learning curve and coming back from a full season out of football in 2020 when he opted out.
Between that trio and the tandem of Marcus Maye and Mathieu on the back-end, it's hard to identify a weak spot in this secondary. Adebo himself says things are slowing down and he's able to decipher things more quickly. Receivers have seen that manifest in his ability to counter certain routes before they're run, funneling receivers exactly where he wants them. A constant of this year's camp has been Adebo getting his hands on passes sent his direction, with the only minor criticism being his low number of turnovers forced to this point.
"He was a dog last year," Lattimore said. "But this year you can see he matured a little bit with everything, his technique and everything. Be on the lookout for Paulson, for sure.”
You've heard all about it. We're getting close to the time where we can see how for-real this defense really is.