Giants Outside Linebackers Were Among Team’s 2025 Strengths

For years, we have been calling for the New York Giants to add to their pass-rush arsenal, preferably with homegrown talent to replenish the last of their effective homegrown talent (Jason Pierre-Paul).

The Giants have done just that. In 2022, they added outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux in the first round. In 2024, they acquired Brian Burns, another first-round pick, from the Carolina Panthers in a trade. And in 2025, they picked Abdul Carter at No. 3 overall.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Formula 1.

But seriously. The outside linebackers were a major strength for the team this year. Carter and Burns finished fifth and 11th in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate for edge rushers.

Burns had a career year, recording 16.5 sacks, which in most seasons might have been enough to lead the league were it not for league sack leader Myles Garrett’s 5-sack and four-sack performances in Weeks 8 and 11, respectively.

Carter didn’t have the sack numbers, but he finished with 72 quarterback pressures, seventh overall in the league per NextGen Stats, a figure that was first among rookie defenders.

He also finished first in the league in quarterback quick pressures under three seconds with 48, and registered an average 2.22-second time to pressure and 3.89-second time-to-sack, both of which were the fastest of the Giants’ defenders.

Thibodeaux, unfortunately, lost seven games due to a shoulder injury that, in retrospect, ended his season in Week 10, so his numbers are going to be a bit skewed by comparison to his peers.

But when it came to the run defense, he was by far and away the best of the Giants' bunch at outside linebacker.

He registered a 12.4% run-defense tackle rate per PFF data and notched an 80.7 FF grade, seventh best among edge rushers who played a minimum of 20% of their defense’s run-game snaps.

Let’s get into the individual performance.

Brian Burns

Playing his best season as a pro, Burns had a career-high in sacks (16.5) and overall production across the board. The level of effort and hustle in Burns’ game should have been inspirational.

The hustle earned him some sacks that he had no business owning. He accrued the sacks in every way imaginable -- off of stunts, contain, pursuit, via edge speed rushes, and even the occasional bull rush.

Burns was also a major factor against the run and was solid in drop-back coverage. Basically, he did it all without missing a single game and shrugging off the many bumps and bruises that those who play hard typically accrue.

Besides the sacks, there were an additional 31 QB Hits, twice as many pressures, 3 forced fumbles, 22 tackles for loss, and 67 total tackles.

We can’t say enough about the way that Burns plays this game. He’s high speed and high effort, all the time. At just 27 years old, he remains this front office’s best offseason move.

Abdul Carter

Apologies to Brian Burns, but Carter was the defense’s best player in the last six games. Give Burns credit for excelling the entire year, as it took Carter over half his rookie season to figure things out.

Early on, the rookie was too easily frustrated by all the attention he was receiving and by his sporadic success.

After the head coach and defensive coordinator were fired, Carter was disciplined twice for missing meetings, which seemed to settle him down.

The coaches found some ways to use him, but by moving him around more, he suddenly crashed the backfield from all angles.

He seemed especially effective standing over center. Opposing centers simply couldn’t block him or deal with his quickness.

Then Carter started using a devastating spin move. He was speed-rushing around corners, pressuring the quarterback, and making tackles in the backfield with penetration.

He also figured out how to contain his edge against the run. By season’s end, he was doing everything at high intensity, and the results were obvious.

Though his stat sheet numbers paled by comparison to Burns’s – Carter finished with just 4.0 sacks and 43 tackles – the number of disruptive plays was in double figures, specifically in those half dozen late-season games.

Carter will need to add some muscle to better finish plays and add more variety to his game – right now, he’s all about attacking by speed, which is breathtaking enough.

Imagine a more physical Carter! The talent is dripping off him. This rookie class has a chance to be an all-timer, with Carter right at the top.

Kayvon Thibodeaux

Thibodeaux’s injury-plagued 2025 season – he missed seven games with a shoulder injury -- followed up a 2024 season where he missed five games (wrist). He’s entering his final contract year as a questionable commodity.

The team might not be able to trade him due to health concerns. And we don’t think they will want to pay him the big money that he will probably be seeking after his option year (which has him 25th among the league’s edge rushers) expires.

So what will they do? We think they’ll just let him play out the string, hoping that the next defensive coordinator has an idea of how to get the most out of him, Carter, and Burns as a trio deployed at the same time.

Thibodeaux had added on to his upper body in the off-season to play a more physical game, but his shoulder didn’t hold up to the pounding.

We’re not sure what version of Thibodeaux is going to show up next summer, but he’ll be playing for his next contract, so we do expect a leaner, faster, perhaps less physical version.

In the 10 games that he did suit up in this year, he accrued only 2.5 sacks and 25 tackles. We thought he was better in his edge run contain thanks to the increased physicality, but the pass rush did not improve. He’s only 25 years old, so anything can happen, but Thibodeaux remains one of the team’s great 2026 question marks, whose game can go either way.

Chauncey Golston

After Thibodeaux went down and Golston recovered from his own early-season injuries (ankle and neck), he finished the season rather strongly as a run-defending outside linebacker, showing fine instincts for contain.

Golston didn’t produce much of an outside pass rush – his lone sack was a contain sack – but he also rarely got to line up inside on passing downs, which is the strength of his pass rush game.

Golston has two more years left on his Giants contract and needs his role tailored to what he does best.

He’s not a turn-the-corner outside linebacker; he’s a “contain” outside linebacker with an inside pass-rush game that was rarely utilized. We think he should have a bigger role.

Victor Dimukeje

Signed to a veteran minimum deal as a power contain edge OLB, injuries limited this 26-year-old former sixth-round pick to just five games and three tackles. We would be surprised if the Giants renew his contract.

Tomon Fox

Fox completed his fourth season with the Giants, bouncing back and forth from the practice squad to the roster.

He played in nine games and recorded six tackles. He does one thing well: providing power edge containment. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Fox in training camp this summer.

Trace Ford

We include Ford in this report because of how much we liked his aggressive edge play this past pre-season.

Ford spent the year on the practice squad and was re-signed at the end of the season, so expect him to continue to try to impress the coaching staff next summer.

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