The Giants should have a good thing going with their edge-rush trio of Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter, ages 27, 25 and 22, respectively.
Burns is signed for three more years. Carter is also signed for three more years, with the Giants able to use the fifth-year option on him to keep him under contract through the 2029 season, if they so desire. Thibodeaux is back in 2026 on the one-year, fifth-year option salary of $14.75 million, very much making this a prove-it season up ahead for him.
Burns, coming off a career-high 16.5-sack season, will cost a team-high $36.5 million on the 2026 salary cap. Carter enters the second year of his four-year, $45.2 million rookie deal set to count $10.2 million on the 2026 cap. Add in Thibodeaux, and the Giants will use nearly $61.5 million of the projected $303 million cap for this coming season — slightly more than 20 percent — on three players who occupy the same position-group meeting room.
The goal should be to maintain or even enhance strengths, whenever possible, but that kind of financial outlay could make things complicated.
