Giants 2025 UFA Primer: ILB/ST Matthew Adams

Over the last offseason, the New York Giants focused on improving a few areas of their roster, including their special teams units, which have left more to be desired. 

One of the early signings they made was for linebacker Matthew Adams, a journeyman player with a history of contributing to a few NFL franchises on special teams. 

The expectation was for Adams to bring the same to New York and juice their production, but instead, the returns on investment were pretty dismal.

Adams signed with the Giants on April 12, 2024, to a one-year, $1,192,500 contract that included $967,500 guaranteed money at signing. 

The Giants were his fourth NFL franchise since he entered the league in 2018 as a seventh-round draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts. 

Adams was more involved as a defensive asset in his first three seasons with the Colts. He played all 16 games in the first two years and recorded 43 total tackles, one forced fumble, and five stuffs as a moderately utilized member of the defensive interior. 

The 29-year-old’s 2020 campaign was marred by an ankle injury that limited him to nine games before returning to all 17 contests in 2021 and adding minor work in the defensive column. 

He shifted to two one-year stints in Chicago in 2022 and Cleveland in 2023, notching 43 combined tackles, two forced fumbles, and five stuffs. 

As a special teams ace, Adams has played at least 149 snaps each season and has offered his services in five of the six units besides the field goal team. He has been an active playmaker in all those phases, tallying 31 total tackles, including three years with five or more and only nine missed tackles. 

Before reaching the professional level, Adams was a four-year player with the Cougars at the University of Houston. He led his school in tackles with 82 in 2016 and nearly matched that with 88 in 2017. He finished college with 259 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, and 7.5 sacks.

2024 Recap

As expected when he was signed, Matthew Adams was seldom involved in the Giants' defensive operation and was purely a special teams contributor. The only unfortunate part of the season was that he barely scratched the stat sheet in 13 games. 

In terms of the defensive side, Adams made just four total tackles (3 solo) in his first stint with the Giants and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s system. 

His two appearances came in Week 7 in a blowout loss to the Eagles, where he saw one snap and had a missed tackle, and in Week 14 against the Saints, where he saw another single snap in run support. 

Shifting to special teams, Adams played in 303 total snaps for coordinator Michael Ghobrial’s unit, his second-highest mark in the last three seasons. 

Most of those came in kickoff coverage (73) and punt converge (62), where he earned a final grade of 60.4, his second-lowest in seven seasons. 

Even his tackling production was very silent. Adams had just two tackles and whiffed on three additional opportunities. He was penalized twice during the season for a campaign that wasn’t what the Giants envisioned for him when they partnered over the offseason.

Why the Giants Should Keep Him

Adams might not have had an overly impactful introductory season in New York. However, he is an experienced veteran who knows what it takes to set the edge and pin the opposing offense deep to assist in the success of their football team. 

In the three years before coming to East Rutherford, Adams was starting to become his own and have some of his best stat lines as a special teams player. His year with the Giants could have been a fluke, and a rebound will happen in 2025, where he can grow into a leadership role for the team. 

Adams has also generally been a solid tackler, which can’t be overlooked. That has been one of the Giants’ issues in special teams play, and they can partly alleviate it with Adam’s presence in the locker room. 

Why the Giants Shouldn't Keep Him

While it’s hard to judge Matthew Adams for a poor outing after switching to a new system for the third time in as many seasons, his production was not what the Giants signed up for. They may want to look elsewhere for a better option to deliver the results they crave for their special teams department, which must be better. 

In addition, Adams has struggled with availability in the back half of his career thus far. He has missed 18 games in that span, including five this past season, after suffering a quad injury during training camp that sidelined him until the beginning of October. 

Potential Replacements If He Doesn't Return

Free Agency: Akeem Davis-Gaither, Cincinnati Bengals

Akeem Davis-Gaither is coming up on free agency after being drafted by the Bengals in the fourth round of the 2020 draft and signing a one-year extension last offseason to remain with Cincinnati for a fifth campaign.

He has contributed to both the defensive and special teams. On the former, he finished as the third-most productive linebacker on the Bengals roster with 82 total tackles (41 solo), four tackles for loss, two forced turnovers, and four pass deflections. 

Regarding special teams for a replacement asset, Davis-Gaither has played 1,333 total snaps in all phases except field goal protection and earned grades of 71.5 or better in his first five seasons. He has also made 20 tackles while missing just seven in the same span.

Any addition from the Bengals department would be positive, as the team finished with the best-graded special teams unit in the NFL in 2024. 

Draft: Jay Higgins, University of Iowa

If the Giants wanted to explore the linebacker position on day 2 or 3 of the 2025 draft, one of the prospects that could help in the special teams realm is Iowa’s Jay Higgins. 

A fifth-year senior with the Hawkeyes, Higgins holds three seasons with at least 99 special teams snaps, including 150+ in both kickoff coverage and punt return teams. He finished with a PFF grade of 72.0 or higher in those three years and notched eight of his nine career tackles on special teams. 

Higgins would also make a good addition to defensive depth. He has 213 total tackles at the college level, including 74+ in each of the last two seasons. 

His coverage game needs some work, but he is solid against the run and has only allowed two touchdowns while forcing five interceptions in the same number of seasons. 

Keep or Dump?

The Matthew Adams experiment was worth a shot as the Giants sought to add experience into their special teams ranks that needed improvements from a mediocre 2023 campaign. However, the results were not there as the team fell from 24th to 25th in overall grading in their 3-14 record. 

Adams isn’t the sole culprit of that placement, but his contributions weren’t exactly what they were before he came to East Rutherford last offseason. His availability and inclination to penalties were two concerns that rolled into the 2024 season. The Giants could fare better if they sought a new option to alleviate these issues.

More Free Agent Primers

New York Giants On SI Social Media