Should the New York Giants make a bold move and look to trade edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux?
That might sound outlandish, but that is what Mason Cameron of Pro Football Focus proposed in his analysis of four teams that should look to trade for a veteran rather than to draft a rookie.
Cameron has the Lios as being a potential destination for Thibodeaux, the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft.
While he didn’t suggest the terms of the deal and acknowledged that the Lions would be getting back a healthy Aiden Hutchinson from a broken leg for the coming season and the depth at edge rusher in this year’s draft class, Cameron still tried to make his case.
“Although this year’s draft class features a strong group of edge rushers, Detroit’s win-now mentality may lead the team to execute a trade to address the deficiency, as the Lions had attempted to with Za’Darius Smith at the deadline,” Cameron said.
“Should the Giants decide to maximize their trade value for Thibs, now would be the time. Detroit has the structure in place to tap into the pass rusher’s potential and the cap space to facilitate an extension, should the team decide to.”
Thibodeaux, the Giants’ fifth overall pick in that draft out of Oregon, is set to earn $1.1 million in base salary with a $3.78 million roster bonus and a total cap hit of $9.97 million for next season.
The Giants also have a club option on his rookie deal that they’ve yet to exercise, though they are expected to do so by the upcoming deadline. Doing so would ensure that if they were to trade Thibodeaux, the acquiring team would have him for two seasons.
Thibodeaux has not been a bad player for the defense, but his career path has slowed down in his quest to become a disruptive force on the level of Hutchinson or Micah Parsons of the Cowboys.
To be fair, most of that has been due to injuries that have forced him to miss 3+ games in two of his first three seasons and lapses in production that don’t go unnoticed.
However, such a move might not make sense for the Giants, regardless of what they do in Round 1 of next month’s draft, if they have a chance at Penn State edge Abdul Carter.
Thibodeaux has found ways to remain one of the leading sack artists on the Giants defense. In 2023, even with Dexter Lawrence and Azeez Ojulari in the mix, he led the team with a career-high 11.5 sacks while forcing four turnovers and 12 tackles for loss.
Thibodeaux was a little slow to get going this past season, with just two sacks in his first seven games combined, but he would find his uptick upon return from injury to notch 3.5 more in the Giants’ final five contests.
Those numbers, which included 28 tackles (eight for loss), two pass deflections, and a forced fumble, ranked him third behind Lawrence and fellow edge rusher Brian Burns.
It certainly was a disappointment not to see Thibodeaux live up to his record-setting season two years ago, especially as his pass-rushing grades haven’t been above 70.0 since. Again, injuries got in the way, so we will never know if he would have equaled or topped his career highs.
Thibodeaux has also been slightly above the average for edge rushers when it comes to stopping the run, and a lot of that is helped by converging on the ball carrier after getting stuffed up front by the behemoth that is Lawrence. He has posted 20+ stops all three seasons and under eight missed tackles in the same span.
The Lions are much closer to a team capable of competing for and winning a Super Bowl and can afford the all-in approach. Adding a guy like Thibodeaux, who finished 16th among edge players with a 17% pass rush win rate and 13% double team rate, would diversify their attack and take attention off of Hutchinson for more one-on-ones.
However, the Giants need that for their defense as well. After being unable to retain Ojulari despite having an interest in doing so, it’s hard to justify the Giants trading away a still young and developing pass rusher, regardless of what happens in next month’s draft.