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New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Why NY Giants OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux Will Increase His 2025 Sack Total

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Stephen Lebitsch | Last updated Jun 16, 2025 10:00 AM ET

The NY Giants were a team that certainly had their documented shortcomings on the offensive side of the ball during the 2024 season. The defense, in particular, their front four on the line of scrimmage, was on a fast track to having a breakout campaign before injuries and a subsequent lack of talent put a wrench in the plan.

While the Giants still managed to collect 45 sacks, which put them in the top third of the league, they couldn’t mask just how much outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux’s performance was ranked among the list of disappointments last season.

Thibodeaux, one of the franchise’s two 2022 first-round selections and the longest-tenured edge rusher on the roster was one of the highlights of the 2023 campaign, posting 50 tackles and leading the Giants’ defense with 11.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, and three forced turnovers that were only short of inside linebacker Bobby Okereke’s team-leading four takeaways.

Fast forward to this past fall, and the former top-five pick was a shell of his former self and last year’s production. He managed to make just 28 total tackles and dropped down to fourth on the Giants’ leaderboard with 5.5 sacks and a 14.2% win rate that was overshadowed by his availability for just 12 games compared to a full slate the year before.

Those numbers were only with Thibodeaux having to share the pass-rushing reps with fellow outside linebacker Brian Burns and All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II, who led the team with nine sacks in the same number of contests. What was also strange was that his recorded win rate was more than double what it was during his career-high campaign (5.6%).

The Giants now have rookie Abdul Carter joining the fold, and while they hope to find ways to get all three outside linebackers on the field with Lawrence in certain situations, he is bound to be involved early and test the veteran Thibodeaux for a larger role on the defensive front this season.

It all sets up for Thibodeaux's need to create a significantly improved campaign in 2025 to regain his presence in the Giants' pass rush hierarchy and possibly earn a long-term extension from the franchise down the road.

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Kayvon Thibodeaux is Set Up Perfectly to Increase His Total Sacks

At their full strength, the Giants defensive line is a four-headed pass rush monster–five if you include Chauncey Golston in an alignment–that could be among the most challenging units for opponents to gameplan for this season.

They have the return of Dexter Lawrence, who has consistently been one of the best interior gap stuffers in the NFL, and a flashy trio of off-ball linebackers who each demand attention for different reasons.

Lawrence will be first on the other team’s list of protection priorities because he often demands two offensive linemen to pick him up and counter his immense size and leverage off the snap.

That combo often sucks up much of the space in the middle of the pocket, which forces quarterbacks to evade the pressure to the outside tackles, where the outside linebackers get their payday.

However, the Giants could now have multiple interior weapons to play with the additions of Abdul Carter and fellow rookie Darius Alexander.

Alexander figures to be the No. 2 option next to Lawrence, but the Giants will also try Carter at both the edge role and on the defensive line to send extra direct havoc at the quarterback.

Carter, who had a 12.0-sack season as a senior at Penn State that tied for third in the nation, played 502 snaps as an interior defender in that span.

In the two seasons preceding that, he averaged at least 387 yards while starting inside the box and boasts a solid arsenal of speed and lower-body flexibility to counteract teams’ doubles or downfield blocks.

If the Giants can execute these packages to perfection, it will lead to more opportunities for Thibodeaux to remain on the field and garner one-on-one matchups against the offensive tackle.

He’s not as likely to receive as much attention as any combination of Carter or Brian Burns, another masterful edge rusher in one-on-one situations, and that could lead to less accountability for his presence and more direct lanes to the ball carrier to pad his sacks total.

Last season, when he was fully healthy, Thibodeaux saw some of the highest snaps from outside of the tackle and was electric at getting contact on the quarterback, if not getting him down or prying the football loose for free turnovers (3 forced in 2024). His pass-rush win rate helped the Giants earn the 12th-highest team ranking in that same category.

He needs to stay on the field to make any form of difference in the Giants' potential sack exchange this season.

Still, with more freedom to work on his pass rush on the weak side of the line of scrimmage while his teammates help create confusing looks for the offense and earn more of their attention on the strong side, it could mean a more lucrative year for Thibodeaux who was once projected to be one of the elite pass rushers to come into the league three years ago.