The New York Giants have built a defensive line stacked with talent. They spent the third-overall pick in this year’s draft on Abdul Carter, combining him with the likes of DT Dexter Lawrence and EDGEs Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux.
Adding Carter on the edge, however, had some questioning how the Giants will split reps between their three edge rushers. New York invested premium draft capital and a lucrative contract into Burns just last offseason, leading many to believe Thibodeaux could be the odd man out.
The Giants have high expectations for Kayvon Thibodeaux
Thibodeaux has yet to live up to the hype of his draft selection. The Giants took him fifth overall in the 2022 NFL Draft, hoping to land one of the league’s premier pass rushers in the process.
While he hasn’t been bad by any means, Thibodeaux’s lack of consistency has kept him from reaching the upper echelon of the league’s pass rushers.
With Carter now on the roster competing for Thibodeaux’s snaps, it’s now or never for the 2022 first-round pick’s breakout season.
Thibodeaux named “make-or-break” player entering 2025
Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus recently named Thibodeaux the Giants’ make-or-break player entering the 2025 season.
“Though he earned a career-high 72.0 PFF pass-rush grade last season, Thibodeaux played in just 12 games and has yet to live up to the hype of his fifth-overall selection,” Wasserman explained. “While the Giants can get creative with Carter’s versatility, Thibodeaux still needs to prove he can be a foundational piece of their defense.”
Thibodeaux finished the 2024 season with 5.5 sacks across 12 games. This was a bit of a step down from the 2023 season, in which he posted 11.5 sacks in 17 games with 12 tackles for loss.
Reaching the double-digit sack threshold is something that Thibodeaux thinks he can do on a perennial basis:
“Yeah, I think I’m a consistent double digits sack guy and I got to do that,” Thibodeaux recently told the media. “It has been three years, going on four now. It has been a lot of ups and downs in my career and as a team, but I think this is a team that can win and I can help that.”
Throughout the spring, though, it’s been Carter who has flashed his high-end potential in practice.
While the Giants can get creative with the deployment of all three of their edge rushers, money will become a factor long-term. Thibodeaux needs to prove that he is worth an extension as he enters year four of his career.
The Giants picked up the fifth-year option on Thibodeaux’s rookie deal, keeping him under contract through 2026. But performing at a high level in 2025 will be crucial to ensure the Giants don’t trade him in 2026.
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