Nothing says “we’ve seen enough” quite like bringing in a 31-year-old pass rusher who hasn’t played a snap in over a year.
Shortly after the New York Giants’ 27-27 overtime tie with the Washington Commanders, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported that Big Blue would host free agent veteran edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue for a workout on Monday. The former Pro Bowler sat out all of 2025 recovering from a broken ankle, but he’s reportedly fully healthy and has made it abundantly clear he wants in.
When a fan begged head coach John Harbaugh to make the call last month, Ngakoue’s response was simple: “Willing and able.”
Harbs knows exactly what he’d be getting, having coached Ngakoue in Baltimore in both 2020 and 2024. But the real story isn’t the guy walking into the building Monday. It’s the guy who’s been seemingly invisible in it for five weeks.
Giants’ Yannick Ngakoue interest should have Kayvon Thibodeaux worried
Five games into 2026, Kayvon Thibodeaux still has zero sacks. The former No. 5 overall pick entered Sunday with a league-worst 0% pass-rush win rate. And while he played a little better against Washington, with three pressures and an 8.3% win rate (his best of the season), that’s not exactly a high bar to clear for a player of his draft pedigree.
To be fair, Thibs deserves some credit. On the game’s final play, he dropped into Jayden Daniels’ throwing lane, forcing him to tuck it and run out the clock in one of the most egregious overtime plays I've ever seen. It was a big reason the G-Men left Landover, MD with a tie instead of an L.
Still, one heads-up play -- in coverage, no less -- doesn’t erase five weeks of goose eggs.
KT’s slump would be annoying under any circumstances. With Brian Burns done for the year with a torn ACL and Chauncey Golston headed to IR with a neck injury, it’s borderline dire. Abdul Carter can’t sack the QB every time, and New York needs guys behind him who can actually be disruptive and finish plays in the backfield.
Ngakoue wouldn’t need to come in and save the pass rush. The Giants could use him as a situational rusher to help take some of the pressure off Carter, and his 70.5 career sacks suggest he knows a thing or two about deleting QBs.
Which is the part that should wake Thibs the you-know-what up. The Giants turned down a fourth-rounder from the Saints for him back in April because they thought he was worth more. Six months later, they’re scooping guys off the street because he hasn’t been worth much of anything.
Nobody’s expecting Ngakoue to save the season, and there’s no guarantee he even leaves North Jersey with a contract. But the Giants are 3-1-1 and leading the division, and they can’t afford to keep waiting on Thibodeaux to figure it out. The fact that the G-Men felt the need to call him in the first place says plenty in and of itself.
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