Who will lose the Giants’ musical chairs game at edge defender?

Actually, there don’t have to be any losers

Leading up the 2025 NFL Draft, as it became clear that neither Cam Ward nor Travis Hunter was likely to be on the board when the New York Giants picked at No. 3, discussion shifted to whether the Giants would select Abdul Carter. Carter was the consensus No. 3 on most big boards and supposedly one of the few “generational” talents in this draft.

The discussion did not center so much around Carter himself but rather on Kayvon Thibodeaux, a previous No. 5 pick who has been a good but not great player and whose fifth year option had not yet been picked up by GM Joe Schoen. The signing of free agent Chauncey Golston in March only added to the questions about whether Schoen would pass on Carter and pick up Thibodeaux’s option, or choose Carter and decline Thibodeaux’s option.

The answer, as we now know, is that he took Carter (thank you, best player available philosophy) AND picked up Thibodeaux’s option. That didn’t end the questions, it only changed them to: Who’s going to start on the edge opposite Brian Burns and how will defensive coordinator Shane Bowen find snaps for both Thibodeaux and Carter? (Because Giants fans and the press corps never run out of questions about Giants players.)

Quoting from Ed’s article the other day about Shane Bowen, Bowen’s response to that was:

“You got three guys for two spots when you look at it from the outside in. It’s a really good problem to have,” Bowen said. “Got three really good players, three really talented players. Two of them that have done it in this league at a high level.

“Again, I think that’s something from a staff standpoint that we’re working through trying to find a way. Ultimately we want to get our best 11 on the field, whatever way we got to maneuver to do that. We got to find ways to get the guys that can impact the game on the field.”

Really, though, it’s a surprising controversy for this particular franchise to have, given its history. Here are the Giants’ primary edge defenders during their 21st Century Super Bowl “window” years (2000-2011). A “starter,” indicated in boldface, is anyone who started at least half the games that season:

Data courtesy of Pro Football Reference

Early in the 21st Century, the Giants had two clear “starters” on the edge: Michael Strahan plus one of Cedric Jones, Kenny Holmes, or Keith Washington on the other side. Osi Umenyiora was a second round draft pick in 2003 but only started one game that year and seven the following year.

Things got interesting in 2005, though. The Giants drafted Justin Tuck in the third round, but he only a started a total of three games in his first three seasons, as Strahan and now Umenyiora were entrenched as the starters. That wasn’t a problem for Tuck, though – he managed 10 sacks despite only starting two games in 2007, and of course he didn’t play like a backup against Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. By that year the Giants actually had three starting edge defenders: Strahan, Umenyiora, and Mathias Kiwanuka, who had been drafted in the first round in 2006 and started beginning in Game 7 of his rookie year.

Memory fails me, but I don’t think I heard many complaints about the Giants using a third and a first on edge defenders in 2005-2006 when they already had Strahan and Umenyiora. It seems to have paid off. Drafting Tuck in 2005 was understandable, since Strahan was nearing the end of his career. Kiwanuka (whom the Giants took at No. 32 after trading down from No. 25) was more of a surprise, not least to him. From Giants Now:

(Kiwanuka) explained he could not have been more shocked to end up with Big Blue on draft night.

“I just knew they weren’t going to pick me, to be honest with you,” Kiwanuka said about the night he was drafted. “I met with them maybe the shortest of any of the teams that were interested at the combine. I knew they had Osi (Umenyiora), they had (Justin) Tuck, they had (Michael) Strahan. There were just a lot of guys on that team already…

If you’re too young to remember that era, we can look at the present. Think of two teams that the Giants play regularly whose pass rush bothers them. Here’s one, the Philadelphia Eagles. Let’s look at who rushed the passer the most on that team last season:

Five different edge defenders rushed the passer 179 or more times last season, and they’re not obscure names: Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Bryce Huff, and Brandon Graham. How did defensive coordinator Vic Fangio do it? Not so much by moving them around – collectively they only had 90 snaps over or inside the tackle (DL alignment columns on the right in the figure above). He just did it by substituting and keeping them fresh: The number of snaps per game played by each were:

• Josh Sweat: 821 snaps in 21 games (39 per game)
• Nolan Smith: 755 snaps in 20 games (38)
• Jalyx Hunt: 343 snaps in 15 games (23)
• Bryce Huff: 298 snaps in 14 games (21)
• Brandon Graham: 324 snaps in 12 games (27)

They were part of the line that sacked Patrick Mahomes seven times in the 21st game of the season. Sweat along had seven pressures and three sacks.

Another bane of Giants offenses has been the Dallas Cowboys. Here are their 2024 numbers:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Dallas’ pass rush wasn’t as diverse as Philadelphia’s, but they still had three different edge defenders rushing at least 290 times and five at least 120 times. The number of snaps played by each were:

• Chauncey Golston: 790 snaps in 17 games (46 per game)
• Micah Parsons: 694 snaps in 13 games (53)
• Carl Lawson: 402 snaps in 15 games (27)
• Marshawn Kneeland: 255 snaps in 11 games (23)
• DeMarcus Lawrence: 167 snaps in four games (42)

Golston’s use was more varied than anyone else on the Dallas or Philadelphia defensive lines: He played 211 snaps over tackle and 84 in the B-gap. The Cowboys used their three leading edge defenders more liberally than the Eagles did, especially Micah Parsons, who averaged 53 snaps per game for the 13 games in which he was healthy.

Now here are the Giants’ 2024 numbers:

Courtesy of Pro Football Focus

Like the Eagles, the Giants did not line up their edge defenders anywhere except outside the tackle, other than a handful of plays. Of course, now Chauncey Golston is a Giant and that may change. Unlike the Cowboys, Burns and Thibodeaux were the only edge defenders to rush the passer at least 200 times, though Azeez Ojulari was not far from 200. The Giants edge numbers were more like those of the Eagles, but in fewer games, implying that Burns and Thibodeaux were on the field a lot more. Here are the Giants’ snap totals:

• Brian Burns: 865 snaps in 17 games (51 per game)
• Kayvon Thibodeaux: 593 snaps in 12 games (49)
• Azeez Ojulari: 391 snaps in 11 games (36)
• Tomon Fox: 207 snaps in 10 games (21)

Let’s imagine that Abdul Carter replaces a combined 20 snaps of Burns’ and Thibodeaux’s playing time, plus that of Tomon Fox, while Chauncey Golston replaces Ojulari’s 36 snaps per game. That would give each player close to 40 snaps per game, a more reasonable burden to place on them over the course of a 17-game season (or longer) and close to what Philadelphia asked of Sweat and Smith last season. Of course Bowen might also play Carter some at off-ball linebacker, the position he primarily played in his first two years at Penn State. Bobby Okereke played every snap or close to it in the majority of Giants games in 2024, so getting him some rest in 2025 might be an attractive option to Bowen.

If the scenarios above were to occur, then the question of who the Giants’ starting edge defenders are would be a moot point – and that would probably be best for the chances of the Giants’ defense being successful. Just ask Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Mathias Kiwanuka, and Jason Pierre-Paul.