Much like last season, injuries are starting to pile up for the New York Giants. The roster that opened the 2025 campaign already looks much different. Some injuries are manageable, but others pose much bigger problems — and that’s exactly where Big Blue stands with $54 million free agent cornerback Paulson Adebo and his knee injury.
The 26-year-old suffered a knee injury in the third quarter of the Giants’ Week 7 meltdown against the Denver Broncos. He was listed as questionable to return but never made it back, leaving head coach Brian Daboll to lean on Deonte Banks. That didn’t go well. And ahead of their Week 8 clash with the Philadelphia Eagles, it looks like general manager Joe Schoen is turning to a familiar face to help shoulder the workload.
Per The Athletic's Dan Duggan, Big Blue is bringing back 2025 seventh-round pick Korie Black, who scorned the Giants by signing with the New York Jets after being released during roster cuts:
Here’s an example of why you can’t carry hard feelings in the NFL: The Giants are signing CB Korie Black to their active roster off the Jets’ practice squad, per source.
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) October 21, 2025
A seventh-round pick by the Giants this year, Black made the initial 53-man roster. But he was waived the…
Giants bring back Korie Black ahead of Week 8 matchup vs Eagles
Welcome back to East Rutherford, Mr. Black. The rookie was drafted by the Giants with the 246th pick in the 2025 Draft. After a rollercoaster training camp, he made the initial 53-man roster, only to be cut the next day, thanks to Schoen’s questionable roster gymnastics.
The hope was to keep him on the team during the first wave of cuts, then release him the next day to add cornerback Rico Payton off the Saints’ IR list, and re-sign Black to the practice squad. But the Jets sniffed out the magic trick and swooped in to steal the seventh-rounder right from underneath them, signing him to their own practice squad.
It was a bizarre sequence. And when asked why he left Big Blue for Gang Green, he told The New York Post it was just business:
"To be honest, you never really know. Anything could happen. I could've stayed there, and something could've happened. I could've came here and something happens, so you never really know."Korie Black
And sure enough, something happened.
Use whatever bridge cliché you want — water under it, none burned — but the relationship wasn’t strained enough to stop a reunion. It’s a funny full-circle moment for the former Oklahoma State star, and it might come with a bigger role than expected.
With Adebo likely out and Banks struggling to cover much of anything, Giants fans might see another rookie make his debut in blue and white on Sunday — and it could wind up being one of the more interesting comeback stories of the season.