Giants Were Reportedly Not Involved in Trent McDuffie Trade Talks

Welcome to the start of the annual NFL deception season, where teams and agents will leak out carefully orchestrated narratives aimed at price manipulation for trades and/or free-agent signings.

That apparently was the case with the recent report of the New York Giants’ interest in trading for former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie.

Both Gary Myers of ESPN radio and Ian O’Connor of The Athletic have disputed the original report by Kansas City Star reporter Sam McDowell that the Giants were actually one of the two teams involved in trade talks to acquire McDuffie, who went to the Los Angeles Rams.

Former Giants cornerback Mark Collins, who finished his career with the Chiefs and has connections within the organization, also made a similar claim on a recent episode of the Giants Squad Show podcast, saying that McDuffie, who is from Southern California, was interested in returning home.

The Giants could certainly use additional cornerback depth, but considering what it cost the Rams to acquire McDuffie–four draft picks, including their first-rounder (No. 29) this year-it makes enough sense that the Giants, who, unlike the Rams, are looking to build a playoff team, would not have engaged in down-to-the-wire negotiations to acquire any player.

The Giants will instead look elsewhere to add to their cornerback room. This could include the draft, if they miss one of the top two linebackers (Ohio State’s Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles) at No. 5.

They may also consider a lower-cost free agent if they cannot or do not want to work out a deal with pending free-agent cornerback Cor’Dale Flott.

A third possibility, although highly unlikely, would be a player-for-player trade. In this scenario, the team could trade outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, as he is the most likely player to bring a decent return on investment.

What’s unknown at this point is whether the Giants believe that they already have their CB1 on the roster in Paulson Adebo, whom they signed last year to a three-year, $54 million contract, which at the time made him the 16th highest paid cornerback in the league.

Adebo, who counts for 8.1% of the Giants’ 2026 cap, has a hit of $24.199 million, which would suggest that the Giants view him as a CB1, even though it’s debatable as to whether he actually has consistently played like one.

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