Don’t you just hate it when you’re a top-five pick in the draft, spend all that time and money on wrestling lessons in the offseason, and then see zero payoff as a pass rusher the following season? If you’re New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, you probably do.
As former Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott could tell you, wrestling doesn’t necessarily translate to improved defensive efforts in professional football. Although it was a good try.
Thibodeaux and the Giants appear to be approaching an impasse. The 2022 fifth-overall pick is coming off the lowest sack total of his four-year career, along with yet another injury-riddled season. With Abdul Carter and Brian Burns looking like the featured pass-rushers moving forward, there have been whispers that 2025 may have been KT’s last in Giants blue. His name has popped up in the rumor mill before, but it feels different this time. And while general manager Joe Schoen held firm at the trade deadline, Thibs’ offseason trade value has now been somewhat revealed, and it's anyone's guess as to what happens next.
Dan Duggan of The Athletic doesn’t believe the Giants should trade Thibs this offseason, but he did acknowledge the 25-year-old isn’t untouchable and that if a team came calling with an offer Schoen couldn’t refuse, suitcases would be packed the next day:
"Thibodeaux is certainly not untouchable; the Giants should listen to offers. If a team offers a Day 2 pick for Thibodeaux — well, it was nice knowing you. Giving Thibodeaux away for a Day 3 pick isn’t worth it. The team is finally in position to try to win."
Kayvon Thibodeaux’s Giants career is hanging by a Day 2-sized thread
Realistically, Giants fans are looking at a Day 2-or-bust return from Schoen’s camp, and it makes sense. He’s still only 25 and has shown he can be a difference-maker when given the opportunity, like when he posted 11.5 sacks in only his second season.
Where the heck did that guy go?
Complicating matters further is that he’ll be playing on the fifth-year option at $14.75 million, meaning an extension conversation is coming fast, and it won’t come cheap. If that doesn’t get sorted, it’s just another homegrown talent leaving to find success elsewhere.
But if we’re being completely honest with ourselves, Thibodeaux feels more like a luxury at this point. His 2.5 sacks last season border on inconsequential and are probably more of an indictment of his development over his first four years than anything else.
I’m not saying trade the guy for a pack of peanuts, but if a pass-rusher-needy team comes calling with a Day 2 pick, Schoen better be ready to send him. If not, it’s not outrageous to think fumbling this could be the final nail in his Giants employment coffin.