Micah McFadden Still Offers Value to the Giants

The 2025 season was supposed to be Micah McFadden's breakout season. After being taken in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, he made 35 starts for the New York Giants over his first three seasons.

During that time, he amassed 267 tackles, 159 of them solo, and 26 tackles for loss. He also had two forced fumbles, six sacks, six passes defensed, and an interception.

All that production made Giants fans believe he was poised to take the next step last season, but that dream was over before it had a chance to materialize when, early in the first game of the season, McFadden suffered a foot injury that kept him on IR for the rest of the year.

Now with new linebackers in the locker room, McFadden will be fighting to regain the 2024 form that allowed him to record his career high in tackles in only 14 games.

It will help him show new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson and his staff that he is a starting-caliber linebacker whom they can utilize as a rotational piece.

The opportunity for this inside linebacker unit to have depth and versatility should excite fans, as they have not seen that type of depth in a long time.

All of that is possible if McFadden can return to the form he showed in 2024.

MICAH MCFADDEN, LB

Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 232 lbs.
Exp.: 5 Years
School: Indiana
How Acquired: D5-'22

2025 in Review

Unfortunately for McFadden, his season-ending injury robbed him of the chance to solidify himself as a starter for the Giants and, in what was a contract year, earn a more lucrative contract.

He suited up for the first game of the season, where he collected three tackles and had one quarterback hit before leaving with an injury and never returning to the field. He played in just 12 total snaps: 11 on defense and one on special teams. He would spend the remainder of the season watching his teammates play and rehabbing from his injury.

As a result of his injury, the Giants found themselves searching for consistency at linebacker next to their defensive captain, Bobby Okereke.

Three other linebackers, Darius Muasau, Demetrius Flanagan-Fowles, and Zaire Barnes, all started at least one game at linebacker for the Giants in 2025, with Muasau claiming the majority of the reps left by McFadden.

None of them played well enough for the Giants to feel comfortable moving forward with them as starters in 2026.

Contract/Cap Info

According to Spotrac, the New York Giants re-signed Micah McFadden to a one-year, $3.75 million contract. That included a $1.5 million signing bonus and $2.9 million guaranteed. He will earn a base salary of $1.4 million and a $100,000 workout bonus.

He will carry a cap hit of just over $3 million, as well as a $2.9 million dead cap value. Although it wasn't the multi-year deal he was looking for, it is a contract that shows they're committed to keeping him on this team in 2026.