Every year, one undrafted player quietly shows up to camp, shuts up the skeptics, and ends up making a legitimate impact. For the New York Giants in 2025, that guy might already be on the roster — and according to Pro Football Focus, his name is O’Donnell Fortune.
Ben Cooper of PFF just dropped a list of one UDFA to watch for every team. For the Giants? Fortune, a lanky cornerback out of South Carolina with a resume that should make every other team wonder what they missed out on.
As Cooper put it: “Fortune ranked third in the FBS in PFF coverage grade in 2024 (90.2), behind only top draft picks Jahdae Barron and Travis Hunter. He surrendered just two touchdowns in coverage and combined for five interceptions over the past two seasons.”
Let that marinate for a second. Really think about it. Two first-rounders — including Travis freaking Hunter — graded higher in coverage. That’s it. And New York didn't even use a draft pick to get him.
The Giants may have stumbled into a coverage gem with O'Donnell Fortune
There’s something hilarious and beautiful about a guy like Fortune falling into New York’s lap. He’s 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, played five years at South Carolina, started for the last two, and routinely locked down SEC receivers. You can’t even write it off as a flash-in-the-pan year either. He had seven career picks, 105 tackles, and was named Defensive MVP at the Shrine Bowl after a 100-yard pick-six.
The G-Men didn’t exactly load up at cornerback during the draft. They took Korie Black in the seventh round and signed Paulson Adebo in free agency — but Adebo’s coming off a femur injury, and Black is, well, a seventh-round project. That leaves Deonte Banks (maybe) and Dru Phillips as the only real penciled-in starters, with question marks and camp battles everywhere else.
Fortune’s got real experience. Five year's worth. He plays with patience, doesn’t bite easily, and has the instincts you just can’t coach. The knocks? He’ll need to bulk up, tighten his tackling, and hold up in man situations — but that’s a fair trade-off for a zone-savvy ballhawk with production only topped by Hunter and Barron.
If he can flash on special teams and hold up in preseason matchups, Fortune has a very real shot at making the 53-man roster. In a cornerback room looking for answers, he might already be one.