While the Giants will rejoice to see rookie first-round quarterback Jaxson Dart return on offense for Monday Night Football tomorrow, Big Blue will be without pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux on defense for the third straight game, per Dan Duggan of The Atheltic. This report comes with little surprise considering Thibodeaux hasn’t once participated in a practice over the past three weeks as he deals with a shoulder injury. 
At this point, after three weeks of no practice, questions have started to shift from when Thibodeaux will be able to return to if Thibodeaux will be able to return. According to Ryan Dunleavy of New York Post Sports, when asked if the fourth-year defender may be shut down for the rest of the season, interim head coach Mike Kafka told reporters, “I think it’s too soon to tell.” Kafka continued, “He’s working his tail off to get back and get better. Our doctors are taking care of him.”
Though a resilient, young defender, Thibodeaux is no stranger to injury. His rookie year got off to a delayed start after he suffered a sprained MCL in the second week of the preseason. After starting every game of his sophomore campaign, Thibodeaux spent five weeks on injured reserve in Year 3 when he needed to undergo surgery for a wrist injury. He had been going strong this year until getting sidelined for the last three weeks.
While Thibodeaux’s attendance had been going strong this year, his pass rush production had not. After a slow rookie campaign only yielded four sacks, Thibodeaux showed why he was a fifth overall pick with an 11.5-sack performance in Year 2. Missing five games last year made a 5.5-sack total understandable, but through 10 games this season, the 24-year-old has only amassed 2.5 sacks.
Whether or not Thibodeaux is able to return this season may impact how his future plays out. During the leadup to the trade deadline earlier in the season, Thibodeaux felt like the most likely candidate to get shipped out of New York. While there were certainly interested callers, the Giants asking for a first-round pick in exchange for a pass rusher with 2.5 sacks on the year virtually dried up the market for Thibodeaux.
The team also picked up Thibodeaux’s fifth-year option, so they may be incentivized to work out a deal that helps them avoid paying the $14.75MM-predicted value of that option. Whether that means another attempt at trading him in the offseason or working out a short, reasonable extension with performance-based incentives remains to be seen.
The reason there was speculation concerning a Thibodeaux trade is because it seems like rookie No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter and veteran Brian Burns will be the pass rushers the team moves forward with, assuming they decide not to give big deals to all three. Though he only had one start during the time Thibodeaux was healthy, Carter had gotten almost an equal run as the two starters in terms of snap count while coming off the bench. In Thibodeaux’s absence, instead of a new third pass rusher taking his share of snaps, Carter and Burns have just shouldered more playing time.
While Carter has the advantage of youth and a cheaper 2026 salary over Thibodeaux, he, too, has struggled to finish with his pass rush this year. Carter has had more close calls — 12 quarterback hits to Thibodeaux’s nine — but only has half a sack on the season. In fact, the only person who seems to be getting to the quarterback this year on the Giants defense is Burns, who already has a career-high 13.0 sacks coming into Week 13.
New York will hope to see Carter blossom in extended starter’s minutes for however much longer Thibodeaux is out. While the team considers it too soon to call Thibodeaux done for the year, the fact that he hasn’t practiced in three weeks and that the question is being asked at all could be a bad sign.
