The New York Giants used a first-round pick on edge rusher Arvell Reese earlier this year. Couple that with the team taking Abdul Carter in the first round last year, and it's pretty clear that 2022 first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux isn't long for the Meadowlands. But where will he wind up? Well, one option has opened up.
The Atlanta Falcons need a replacement for Jalon Walker, who tore his ACL in practice earlier this week. The 2025 first-round pick recorded 5.5 sacks and forced a pair of fumbles as a rookie and was expected to play a larger role this season, but now, the Falcons need to figure out what to do at a crucial position.
Proposed Giants-Falcons trade for Kayvon Thibodeaux
The NFC South could be the most wide-open division in the NFL this year. None of the teams look particularly good, but none look particularly awful either, and it's easy to imagine any of the four teams taking the division crown with 10 wins.
So when the Falcons are facing a loss as potentially impactful as Walker, the shape of this division race should encourage the team to be aggressive in going after a replacement. And since the Giants are at risk of either losing Thibodeaux for nothing soon or having to pay him money that can be better allocated elsewhere, there's a clear fit here.
The Giants drafting Reese shouldn't be viewed as an indictment of Thibodeaux but more as a chance to get a higher-upside player in the door. In 10 games in 2025, Thibodeaux posted the worst numbers of his career, but he also played far fewer snaps than he has before. In 2023, his best season and the only campaign so far in which he had double-digit sacks, Thibodeaux played 980 snaps. In 2025, he played 494.
Atlanta would be betting on increased production with increased snaps, which isn't a bad bet to make. The Falcons don't have a lot of reliable talent on the edge right now. Of the four edges on the roster who played enough to qualify for PFF's leaderboard, Walker had the best overall grade, ranking 41st of 119 edge rushers. The team needs to find players who can challenge the quarterback.
Is Thibodeaux the perfect solution? Probably not. He's a little more of a linebacker than a pure edge rusher, though he has the skills needed to bolster this Atlanta defense. Swapping a Day 2 pick for a Day 3 pick is probably enough to get him, though the Giants might counter by offering a sixth back instead of a fifth, which the Falcons should still seriously consider. Extending him is the riskier play, but this team needs more talent up front in a big way, so giving him multiple years on a new deal isn't a dealbreaker either.
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