Thibodeaux, the fifth overall pick by the Giants in the 2022 NFL Draft, has been the subject of trade speculation since the Giants selected edge defender Abdul Carter No. 3 overall in the 2025 Draft. The Giants also have Brian Burns on the edge.
Thibodeaux will play the 2026 season on his fifth-year option, and could to free agency after the season.
“Everybody’s tradeable,” Giants head coach John Harbaugh said earlier this week.
Of course the Giants would move the 25-year-old Thibodeaux if the were offered a Day 2 pick in return. The common belief has been that Thibodeaux would be unlikely to fetch more than a fourth-round pick in return.
The Giants seem unlikely to give Thibodeaux a mega-deal like the four-year, $110 million one Travon Walker signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The likely scenario should they not trade him would be losing him in free agency and hoping for a 2028 third-round compensatory draft pick.
In my view, a 2026 fourth-round pick might be more valuable than that. A second- or third-round pick in 2026 rather than a tack-on compensatory pick at the end of the 2028 draft? Taking that in exchange for Thibodeaux and also gaining $14.75 million in 2026 cap space seems like a no-brainer.