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Will the 49ers Trade for New York Giants EDGE Kayvon Thibodeaux?

Thibodeaux is only 24 years old.

Grant Cohn

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (5) warms up before a game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (5) warms up before a game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images
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The 49ers obviously need a defensive end. So they could draft one next week and hope he develops into a good player, or they could for one who was a top-five pick three years ago.

New York Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, who was the fifth pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, could be available for trade. That's because the Giants currently own the third pick in the upcoming draft. And if they take Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter, then Thibodeaux could be the odd man out considering the Giants also have edge rusher Brian Burns.

Thibodeaux is only 24 years old. He played college football at Oregon and he recorded 11.5 sacks for the Giants in 2023. But in 2024, he regressed and had just 5.5 sacks, which is why the Giants might replace him with Carter, who seems to be a generational talent.

Thibodeaux isn't quite that special, but he still has potential and could be worth a second- or third-round pick.

Unfortunately for the 49ers, Thibodeaux is entering the final season of his rookie contract. So if they trade a mid-round pick for him and he struggles, he could leave in free agency and all they'd get in return is a compensatory pick in a few years. Or, if he plays well, they'd have to give him an expensive contract extension.

That's why I don't expect the 49ers to trade for Thibodeaux. They're preparing to spend so much money on the quarterback position that I think they'd prefer to have a cost-controlled rookie defensive end than one on the verge of an extension.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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