Rams could go all-in on 2026 title run with latest buy-low trade proposal

The Los Angeles Rams were one of the best teams in the NFL last season, but they couldn’t get past their division rival, the Seattle Seahawks, who went on to win the Super Bowl. Now, with everyone preparing for the 2026 season, the Rams are hoping they did enough to get over the hump and emerge as champions.

While the biggest acquisition periods of the offseason have already passed, teams will still have opportunities to add to their rosters. One NFL analyst thinks the Rams might consider a trade for a recent top-five pick. In an ESPN piece looking at four veterans who could be on the move this year, insiders laid out some hypothetical trades.

One of those trades was Los Angeles sending a 2028 third-round pick to the New York Giants for edge defender Kayvon Thibodeaux and a 2028 sixth-round pick.

ESPN proposes a hypothetical Rams trade for Kayvon Thibodeaux

Analyst Seth Walder proposed this trade, and he argued that this would be an example of the rich getting richer. Highlighting Los Angeles’ impressive young edge defenders Jared Verse and Byron Young, Walder thinks Thibodeaux would be a perfect fit in the group and would make the Rams’ rotation even more dangerous.

Thibodeaux was selected by the Giants with the fifth-overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, and he has been a productive defender for New York for the last four seasons. As a rookie, Thibodeaux posted just four sacks in 14 games, but significantly improved that number in year two to 11.5 sacks, while playing in all 17 games.

The defender only appeared in 12 games in 2024, racking up 5.5 sacks, and posted just 2.5 sacks last season, in only 10 games.

Now, Thibodeaux is entering a pivotal contract year, and that’s why there is a belief that he could be on the move. The Giants have a crowded edge room with Thibodeaux, Brian Burns, and Abdul Carter, and they drafted Arvell Reese in the 2026 Draft, a player who can play on the edge and as an off-ball linebacker.

With all of that talent in New York’s defensive front, the Giants could be motivated to move him if they think re-signing him is unlikely. That’s where the Rams can come in. Even if Los Angeles is only going to have the defender for one season, the team’s status as a contender would make the trade make sense.

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