There’s an old adage in sports: Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.
That could be said in the case of New York Giants outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, a former first-round pick, who is entering his fifth season in the NFL with Big Blue. Thibodeaux has been at the center of trade talks all winter, and thus far, he’s yet to be moved.
Perhaps the Giants didn’t get their price and decided to simply keep him and his $14.7 million cap hit one more season. Then, there’s the possibility they have plans for the former Oregon star.
At the moment, though, Thibodeaux looks like an odd man out in a linebacker corps that has added layers of talent over the past several years. First, there was the trade for Brian Burns and the drafting of Abdul Carter. This offseason, the Giants dumped Bobby Okereke and added Tremaine Edmunds in free agency and Arvell Reese in the draft.
Thaibodeaux suddenly became expendable, but Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach John Harbaugh weren’t — and aren’t — about to give him away.
On Monday, at the opening of the Giants’ mandatory minicamp, Carter limped off the field with an ankle injury that Harbaugh said he didn’t believe was serious. That thrust Thibodeaux into duty as the next man up, just solidifying the reality that things can change quickly in the NFL, and you can never have enough depth.
After practice, Harbaugh was asked his impression of Thibodeaux and how he was handling the “outside noise” and surrounding trade talk.
“I give Kayvon a lot of credit because I think he’s a premier player in the National Football League,” Harbaugh said. “I saw him make a play in a boot today. It was just like silky, smooth, fast, just a change of direction. He’s a great athlete.”
The trade talk, which sometimes can derail players, even as grounded as a Los Angeles native such as Thibodeaux, the Giants are impressed with how things have gone.
“I think he’s handling it so well, with so much maturity. I don’t know if you see every player handle it the way he has,” Harbaugh added. “Everybody’s gotta admit he’s handled this thing really the right way. He knows he needs to go out and have a great season, and it starts with what Harry Carson was talking about. You do it for the team. You do it to win as many games as you can and you let everything else fall in place the way it’s supposed to, and that’s what he’s planning on doing. Nobody knows what the future holds. But the future holds games that he’s going to be playing a lot of plays in, and he’s going to play really well.”
The way Thibodeaux has handled it has not gone unnoticed by his teammates, either. Burns was asked by reporters to provide his take on how Kayvon was handling things. Thibodeaux can only control what he can control, and Burns says he’s doing that very well.
“I’m so proud of Thibs, dog,” he said. “And I don’t want to sound all sentimental or whatever, but just the man he is and he’s becoming, like the way he handles his business, is something that’s really inspirational. He’s doing everything right. He’s leaving no stones unturned, and that’s something that I really commend him on because he is put in tough situations at times, and he’s handled it like a pro.”
Burns expects Thibodeaux to have a great season, even if he may not have a starting role and could see his snaps diminish from last season. That would all hinge on whether Thibodeaux can play a full 17-game season, something he’s done just once in his four seasons with the Giants.
The Giants’ linebacking unit is a collection of first-round picks. Thibodeaux was the fifth overall selection in the 2022 NFL draft. Carter was taken third overall by the Giants last year, and Reese was the No. 5 pick in this year’s draft. Edmunds was the 16th overall pick in the 2018 draft by Buffalo, and Burns was taken 16th overall in 2019 by Carolina.
The Giants will head into their summer break this week with Thibodeaux still in tow. They are a better team for it.
“I love the Giants, I’m happy to be here,” Thibodeaux recently told Newsday. “I’m not really too worried about the logistics behind it because ball’s going to take care of itself as long as I keep playing ball and I keep loving it. Everything else is going to work out.”
The Giants think so, too.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux handling persistent trade rumors like a pro
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By John Fennelly, Giants Wire | USA TODAY Network
